The Column, No. 38:

FLORENCE, Ore.—Young sporting clays shooters from across Oregon earned state titles—with many qualifying to represent Oregon at upcoming national championships—at last weekend’s Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) Oregon Sporting Clays State Championship.

The sporting clays competition, held June 28 at Siuslaw Rod and Gun Club in Florence, featured some of Oregon’s top young shooters in five divisions: varsity, junior varsity, intermediate advanced, intermediate entry and rookie.

SCTP, for youths in grades 12 and under, is a program of the National Shooting Sports Foundation managed in partnership with the national governing bodies for shooting sports: USA Shooting, Amateur Trapshooting Association, National Skeet Shooting Association and National Sporting Clays Association.

With remarkable growth over the past eight years, the program is considered “the Little League of shooting sports.” Some 8,000 to 9,000 students from over 45 states are expected to compete this year.

Oregon teams participating in the state title shoot qualified for the SCTP National Championships July 31-Aug. 5 at the World Shooting and Recreational Complex in Sparta, Ill.

The best of these young shooters could be selected to attend an Olympic development camp in Colorado Springs, and some will go on to compete at the collegiate level.

For more information, visit www.nssf.org/sctp.

RESULTS

SCTP Oregon Sporting Clays State Championship (held June 28, Siuslaw Rod and Gun Club, Florence, Ore.)

Varsity Division (grades 9-12)
1st Place—Emerald Empire Eagles, 454 out of 600 targets (Nicholas Brabham of Springfield, Nathan Leavitt of Springfield, Tomas Rogers of Springfield).
2nd Place—Thunder Ridge Youth Shotgunners, 435 (Jason Springer of Cottage Grove, Tanner Smith of Creswell, Kasey Ankeny of Eugene).
3rd Place—Not awarded.
 
Junior Varsity Division (grades 9-12)
1st Place—Emerald Empire Eagles, 417 out of 600 targets (Steven Ogg of Springfield, Paul Leavitt of Springfield, Forrest Church of Springfield).
2nd Place—Eddyville Eagles, 295 (Nick Mulligan of Toledo, Kyil White of Newport, Jordan Schneidecker of Toledo).
3rd Place—Not awarded.
 
Intermediate Advanced Division (grades 6-8)
1st Place—Emerald Empire Eagles, 387 out of 600 targets (Dusty Harrold of Cottage Grove, Logan Ellison of Springfield, Rick Lengele of Eugene).
2nd Place—Not awarded.
3rd Place—Not awarded.
 
Intermediate Entry Division (grades 6-8)
1st Place—Thunder Ridge Youth Shotgunners, 397 out of 600 targets (Chris Sjoblom of Junction City, Kinzer Cox of Cottage Grove, Shane Quarterly of Springfield).
2nd Place—Emerald Empire Eagles, 332 (Bailee Prater of Coburg, Jasmine Adams of Eugene, Timothy Ogg of Springfield).
3rd Place—Thunder Ridge Youth Shotgunners 2, 318 (Stephen Brown of Springfield, Robert Nowack of Eugene, Taylor Noll of Eugene).
 
Rookie Division (grades 5 and under)
1st Place—Thunder Ridge Youth Shotgunners, 153 out of 600 targets (Joseph Palanuk of Pleasant Hill, Derek Carlton of Cottage Grove, Montana May of Lorane).
2nd Place—Emerald Empire Eagles, 137 (Joseph Jacobson of Eugene, Reed Koozer of Walterville, David Leavitt of Springfield).
3rd Place—Not awarded.