Warriors win trap and skeet shooting championship

CHUGIAK — Though the Wasilla team dominated the competition, each of the “big four” Mat-Su Valley high schools were well-represented last weekend in the 2014 Varsity Trap and Skeet Championship hosted by the Alaska Scholastic Clay Target Program at Birchwood Recreation and Shooting Park.

The Warriors took home team trophies in both trap and skeet for senior and junior varsity. Wasilla seniors River Vincent and Ayla Arvin were the individual champions for the varsity men’s and women’s events, respectively, followed by runners-up Chance White and Kirsten Benson from Colony.

Colton Cline and Dalton Dorn, both of Wasilla, tied for third place overall. Their teammate, Jhoanna Hughes, tied for third place in the women’s skeet event, with Houston’s Kaitlynn McClelland.

Wasilla head coach and ASCTP vice president Jesse Stubblefield said he was very proud of his team.

“I have an amazing group of young people,” he said by phone Wednesday. “They work together and help each other, and I think that’s a huge part of their success.”

Stubblefield said he gave up his position coaching wrestling at Service High School late last spring to coach trap and skeet, a club sport at all the Valley high schools.

“These kids are tough, most adults don’t beat these kids,” he said of his Wasilla athletes.

The growth of the team, too, has surely helped them succeed. Stubblefield said he had just five shooters last spring, two of whom graduated shortly thereafter. This season, the three remaining returned, joined by 12 others, many of whom had not fired a shotgun prior to joining the club.

Junior varsity shooter Tyler Bouchet was one of those people.

Bouchet was definitely a rookie shooter coming into the season, Stubblefield said, but he has made vast improvements just during the last month.

“I told him ‘when it clicks, it’s gonna click,’ and then it did,” he said.

Bouchet took second place overall in the JV competitions, behind his teammate, Ernie Gillis. Wasilla’s Jasmine Otis won the women’s division.

Other standout performances in the championship tournament include Tommy Foster’s and Raven Engelbrecht’s third-place finishes in the varsity men’s and women’s trap event for Palmer, and Meghan Thompson’s overall second-place finish for Colony.

Stubblefield put most of his new shooters on the JV team as a precaution, he said, but by the sound of it, that move may have been unnecessary.

“I wanted them to learn how to become more consistent (first), but they’re shooting varsity scores,” he said of his athletes.

While good scores certainly put a smile on Coach Stubblefield’s face, he said also appreciates the equalizing nature of trap and skeet shooting as a sport. No matter how smart, popular, or athletic a student on the team may be, each has the opportunity to compete and perform at the same level.

“Out there, they’re all the same,” Stubblefield said. “I love that.”

The 2015 Varsity Sporting Clays season begins in early February, which is slightly different than the Trap and Skeet season that starts in the fall.

High school students interested in participating next season are encouraged to contact Neil or Lindy Moss of Alaska SCTP at 373-0961.

For more information, visit aksctp.org.

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