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| The True Sporstman Club A & A Shooters at the state competition. |
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| The Junior Experienced first place squad featured Marcus Glavenich, Ryan Robles, Gary Creason, coach Rich Lynch, Alex Randall and Aeric Skinner, also shown with his individual second-place ribbon. |
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| The Junior Novice third place squad included (back row): Wade Johnson, Ryan Haas and Daniel Tate. (Front row): Cameron Warmby, Brandon Rodriguez. |
Thirty-seven shooters from Amador County formed seven, five-person teams to compete in the Senior and Junior divisions in the experienced and novice categories. The State Championships were split into two flights of one hundred targets each, testing the shooter's endurance and ability to concentrate during a competition that lasted close to eight hours.
More than 230 youth shooters, representing 13 different gun clubs from across the state, competed in the one-day event. The Scholastic Trap Program is a national program governed by the Amateur Trapshooting Association and the National Shooting Sports Foundation. The A and A Shooters representing Amador County had the largest contingency present.
After the first 100 targets had been tallied, A and A Shooters' Junior Experienced squad of Marcus Glavenich, Ryan Robles, Gary Creason, Alex Randall and Aeric Skinner were leading by nine targets. The team waited anxiously as all of the scores came in and, due to their overall outstanding shooting performance on their second 100 targets, they netted first place with a total target score of 933, 18 targets ahead of the second-place winners from San Diego.
Individually, Creason, Randall and Skinner had at least one perfect trap of 25 straight and Skinner, an eighth-grader from Ione Junior High, broke 193 targets out of 200 for a second place individual trophy in his class. The 933 score was also the second-highest team score recorded that day for all of the teams participating, including the teams in the Senior Experienced division.
This first-place win qualifies the team to compete at the Grand American National Trapshooting Competition in Vandalia, Ohio on Aug. 12 and 13. The Vandalia trap range is the world's largest trapshooting line, close to two miles long.
The other A and A Shooters team to place at the state shoot was comprised of Junior Novice shooters Daniel Tate, Ryan Haas, Wade Johnson, Brandon Rodriguez and Cameron Warmby. The lead-off for his squad was seventh-grader Tate, who put in his personal best performance on the line with his first 25 straight and a total of 186 out of 200.
Rodriguez, who has performed well all year in competition, shot another 25 straight. The team took third-place honors with a total score of 883 behind second-place San Diego and first-place Oak Tree.
Other personal-best scores were recorded by Danny Powers, Robert Rhoades, Joe Donati and a couple of brother combinations, Luke, Mitchell and Marcus Glavenich and Rhett and Derek Linden. Powers earned his first 50-straight patch and shared the top A and A Shooters individual score with Ryan Drake by breaking 190 of 200. Robert Rhoades, squad leader for his Senior Experienced team, shot his first 25-straight and cracked 95 of his last 100 targets.
On the same squad, Joe Donati also earned his 25-straight patch. Rhett and Derek Linden, both shooting competitively for the first time this year, each broke 25-straight. The Glavenich brothers collectively shot well. Big brother Luke earned his first 50-straight patch on his way to 99 of 100 in the second flight. Twins Marcus and Mitchell were not to be outdone; Mitchell ran 25-straight for his first time on the very last trap of the day, while Marcus led his team to the State Championship.
All of the A and A Shooters participating at the state shoot exhibited good sportsmanship, range etiquette and gun safety. They were fine ambassadors from Amador County to the sport of trapshooting.
The True Sportsman Club A and A Shooters are grateful to all who supported the program this year and look forward to bringing home a National Championship title in August. For further information on the program, contact Rich Lynch at 267-0385