Scholastic shooters show skills

BIRCHWOOD — Almost 100 young shotgun shooters turned out for the Alaska Scholastic Clay Target Program-Youth Education in Shooting Sports State Championship this weekend.

Ben Scarborough, Soldotna’s Sam Schimmel and Colony High School’s Colby Lord took the top three varsity spots in the men’s sporting clays Thursday with scores of 82, 81 and 78. In the men’s varsity skeet the following day, the trio switched it up — Schimmel won with two of four 25-perfect rounds and a final score of 97; Lord was the runner-up with 96 points and one perfect round; and Scarborough took third with 92 points.

But junior division shooter Steven Brown, from Anchorage, shot like a senior varsity athlete, tying Schimmel for points in the skeet.

He even nabbed the High Over All win of the men’s competition after scoring 98 points in the trap event Saturday. He was second only to incoming Soldotna freshman Adam Trujillo, who after a previous personal best score of 64 put it all on the line Saturday and shot a perfect 100.

According to Alaska SCTP Director Neil Moss, both boys are now two of just six in the country to join the program’s “winner’s circle,” after successfully shooting 25, 50, 75 and 100 clays in a row. Brown earned his marks at the Junior Olympic qualifiers this spring, which will take him to the national competition next month.

Last year, Brown won the J3 division at JOs — a feat made more impressive by the fact that Alaskans don’t have a facility for the style of trap athletes shoot at the Olympics.

“That’s huge for a kid in Alaska who doesn’t have a bunker,” Moss said.

But most clay target facilities in Alaska only have capabilities for trap shooting, he said, and athletes in Southcentral are lucky to have trap, skeet and a sporting clays trail at Birchwood.

The Rabbit Creek Shooting Park has been good for varsity shooters Hayley and Jessica Lincoln, too. The soon-to-be juniors in high school shot some clays there with their father about five years ago, and they “got hooked.”

“We were tired of the other basic sports that you try out for, none of them really fit,” Hayley Lincoln said. “After the first league we did — we got first and second — we just knew that this was gonna be our sport.”

And so it was. Hayley took first in the skeet and second in the sporting clays and Jessica took second in skeet and first in sporting clays. Jessica also won the women’s High Over All award for the three-day competition.

In the overall trap totals, with men and women of all divisions scored together, Jessica Lincoln placed fifth behind Trujillo, Brown, River Vincent (men’s varsity) and James Lott (junior) with a score of 94. She tied with men’s varsity shooter John Morris.

For more information about the Alaska Scholastic Clay Target Program, look for Alaska SCTP on Facebook or visit aksctp.org.

Contact Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.

Alaska Scholastic Clay Target Program-Youth Education in Shooting Sports State Championship

June 11-13

Overall trap

Men’s and women’s

Top 20

1. A. Trujillo, 100; 2. S. Brown, 98; 3. R. Vincent, 97; 4. J. Lott, 95; 5. J. Lincoln, 94; 5. J. Morris, 94; 6. C. White, 93; 7. N. Edwards, 93; 7. K. Johnson, 93; 7. C. Mickel, 93; 11. B. Scarborough, 92; 12. T. Morrison, 91; 12. B. Mickel, 91; 14. D. Dorn, 90; 14. R. Parker, 90; 14. A. Clark, 90; 17. B. Phelps, 88; 17. E. Graham, 88; 19. G. Horne, 87; 19. C. Clay, 87; 19. K. McClain, 87.

Men’s varsity

Skeet

1. S. Schimmel, 97; 2. C. Lord, 96; 3. B. Scarbrough, 92; 4. C. Hutton, 91; 5. N. Edwards, 89; 6. R. Vincent, 87; 7. B. Horne, 97; 8. B. Hoover, 86; 9. C. Mickel, 85; 10. A. Clark, 84; 11. C. White, 83; 12. D. Hoffman, 82; 13. C. Seay, 80; 14. J. Buchanon, 79; 15. P. Reddington, 79; 16. B. Phelps, 79; 17. C. Sant, 79; 18. J. McAnally, 78; 19. D. Dorn , 77; 20. W. Vrana, 76; 21. E. Graham, 74; 22. T. Streicher, 74; 23. K. Shampine, 72; 24. K. Johnson, 69; 25. W. Brewer, 69; 26. D. Ertz, 62; 27. T. Powell, 49.

Women’s varsity

Skeet

1. H. Lincoln, 94; 2. J. Lincoln, 93; 3. C. Baker, 88; 4. T. Baker, 81; 5. K. Borg, 79; 6. O. Shannon, 69; 7. J. Hughes, 69; 8. S. Morris, 56; 9. S. Brumbaugh, 33.

Men’s varsity

Sporting clays

1. B. Scarbrough, 82; 2. S. Schimmel, 81; 3. C. Lord, 78; 4. C. White, 77; 5. B. Horne, 76; 6. D. Hoffman, 75; 7. R. Vincent, 74; 8. C. Hutton, 74; 9. C. Seay, 74; 10. J. Buchanon, 73; 11. Alex Clark, 63; 12. E. Graham, 72; 13. C. Mickel, 72; 14. B. Hoover, 71; 15. N. Edwards, 70; 16. D. Dorn, 69; 17. B. Phelps, 67; 18. W. Brewer, 65; 19. P. Reddington, 63; 20. C. Sant, 62; 21. K. Johnson, 62; 22. W. Vrana, 60; 23. J. McAnally, 58; 24. T. Streicher, 57; 25. D. Ertz, 56; 26. K. Shampine, 49; 27. T. Powell, 47.

Women’s varsity

Sporting clays

1. J. Lincoln, 82; 2. H. Lincoln, 76; 3. K. Borg, 72; 4. O. Shannon, 69; 5. C. Baker, 65; 6. T. Baker, 61; 7. J. Hughes, 57; 8. S. Morris, 48; 9. S. Brumbaugh, 28.