The Forest City Gun Club in Savannah, Georgia, hosted the 2023 Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) Georgia State Championship on the weekend of June 9-11, 2023, with over 500 shooters across the State. After winning four consecutive State titles, the Juniors came up eight birds short, losing to the Lake Oconee Shotgun Team 1444 to 1436.
In SCTP nationwide, the stiffest competition in the Nation is in Georgia, and, to put this in perspective, Forest City Gun Club Juniors (FCGCJ) has won the last 3 National Championships, and Lake Oconee won the two prior to that. Further, FCGCJ beat them by about the same margin at the SCTP Southeast Regional in April. These are familiar foes, and it's not the last time these teams will battle it for the top of the podium.
Over 20 teams took part on the weekend competition in all four events across all six divisions. FCGCJ placed in the Top 3 in every event in every division. We may not have won the High Overall Award (HOA) Team, but we brought home the most hardware.
ALL-STATE TEAM
FCGCJ had several shooters make the All-State Team for non-collegiate shooters finishing in the Top 10 Overall for an Event.
Sporting Clays – Drake Cooper and Owen Haas
Trap – Chase Buerger
Skeet – Mills Hollis, Jim Reynolds Morrison, and Chase Buerger
HOA TEAM – 2nd Place
Leading the Juniors for the 2nd Place HOA Team award across the divisions were:
Skeet: Mills Hollis 99 – Jim Reynolds Morrison 99 -- Chase Buerger 98 – Charlie Moody 98 – Miles Carson 98
Sporting Clays: Drake Cooper 96 – Owen Haas 95 – Jackson Ezelle 93 – Jackson Ferland 92 – Chase Buerger 91
Trap: Chase Buerger 98 – Owen Haas 97 – Dan Bradley 94 – Drake Cooper 94 – Ericka Ann McKeever 94
HOA Individuals
On the High Overall Individual side, across all three main events, we had several shooters do very well:
HOA All Ladies: 3rd Landyn Fries 274/300
HOA Collegiate: 1st Jake Summerford 289 – 3rd Jackson Schaaf 286 – 4th Nathan Porter 282
HOA JV Ladies: 1st Landyn Fries 274 – 3rd Emaline Haddad 251 – 5th Gracen Garceau 249
HOA Intermediate Advanced Men: 4th Lucas McKenzie 267
HOA Intermediate Advanced Ladies: 4th Bella Grace Baker 227
HOA Intermediate Entry Men: 2nd Jacob Butler 263 – 3rd Chars Lapp 255 – 4th Grady McKenzie 254 – 5th IV Fetterman 250
HOA Intermediate Entry Ladies: 4th Mari Claire Dyches 195
HOA Rookie Men: 3rd Sam Thorpe 214 – 4th Hunter Martin 200
Rookies
The Rookies once again had a strong showing led by Coach Mark Cribbs.
Rookies Sporting 2nd Place Team Sam Thorpe, Hunter Brigdon, and Corbin Lynes
Rookies Super Sporting 1st Place Team Sam Thorpe, Hunter Vick, and Hunter Martin
Rookies Trap 1st Place Team Deacon Fetterman, Sam Thorpe, Hunter Martin, Caleb Vo, and Corbin Lynes
Rookies Skeet 1st Place Team Hunter Martin, Sam Thorpe, and Whalen Palmer
Individually we had:
Super Sporting 2nd Place Sam Thorpe 33/50
Trap 3rd Place Deacon Fetterman 69
Skeet 1st Place Hunter Martin 87 and 2nd Place Sam Thorpe 86
Intermediate Entry
This year, FCGCJ have a very strong group of Intermediate Entry shooters led by Coaches Barrett Schaaf and Jeff Kinlaw and their staff. These shooters competed in their first year in Middle School and were solid because they won every event.
Sporting Clays 1st Place Team: Jacob Butler, Grady McKenzie, and IV Fetterman
Super Sporting 1st Place Team: Owen Washburn, Grady McKenzie, and Chaz Palmer
Trap 1st Place team: Chars Lapp, Porter Wood, Jacob Butler, Owen Washburn, and IV Fetterman.
Skeet 1st Place team: Grady McKenzie, Chars Lapp, and Jacob Butler
Individuals:
Sporting Clays: 2nd Jacob Butler 83
Ladies Sporting Clays: 3rd Mari Claire Dyches 58
Super Sporting: Tied for 1st and 3rd, and 4th after Shootoff - Owen
Washburn 39 and Grady McKenzie 39
Trap: 1st Chars Lapp 92, 2nd Porter Wood 91
Skeet 1st: Grady McKenzie 96 3rd Chars Lapp 94
Ladies Skeet: 3rd Mari Claire Dyches 80
Intermediate Advanced
FCGCJ has a small but competitive group in Intermediate Advanced led by Chuck Dickson and Dan DeGood.
Skeet Team: 1st Place Lucas McKenzie, Marshall Kent, and June McKenzie
Sporting Clays Team 3rd Place Marshall Kent, Lucas McKenzie, and Frank Kamaleson
Super Sporting Team: 3rd Place Marshall Kent, Lucas McKenzie, and Frank Kamaleson
Trap Team: 3rd Place June McKenzie, Lucas McKenzie, Marshall Kent, Frank Kamaleson, and Bella Grace Baker
Individuals:
Skeet: 3rd Lucas McKenzie 96
Ladies Skeet: 2nd June McKenzie 90 2nd Bella Grace Baker 86
Sporting Clays: 3rd Marshall Kent 86
Ladies Sporting: 2nd Bella Grace Baker 64
Ladies Super Sporting: 3rd June Mckenzie 33
Ladies Trap: 3rd June McKenzie 87
Junior Varsity
The competition gets stiffer, and things get more serious at the Junior Varsity level, a competitor's first year competing in High School. The coaches tell kids and parents that Coach Ray McDonald and his staff run this like boot camp and expect and demand responsibility, personal accountability, and hard work from the shooters.
This year we have a great group of young shooters who are already seasoned competitors. Some of whom are snipping at the Varsity's heels.
Skeet Team: 1st Place Mills Hollis, Jim Reynolds Morrison, and Emaline Haddad
Sporting Clays Team: 3rd Place Jack McKenzie, Mills Hollis, and Landyn Fries
Super Sporting Team: 3rd Place Landyn Fries, Lawson Zhou, and Jack McKenzie
Trap Team: 3rd Place Landyn Fries, Sam Anderson, Jack McKenzie, Mills Hollis and Emaline Haddad
Individuals:
Skeet: 1st after Shootoff Mills Hollis 99 2nd Jim Reynolds Morrison 99
Ladies Skeet: 1st Emaline Haddad 94, 2nd after Shootoff Emily Dyches 93, 3rd Landyn Fries 93
Ladies Sporting Clays: 1st Landyn Fries 89 3rd Emaline Haddad 79
Ladies Super Sporting: 2nd Landyn Fries 40
Ladies Trap: 2nd Landyn Fries 92
Varsity
FCGCJ Varsity Shooters, led by Zac as Head Coach, and Captains Owen Haas, Jackson Ferland, and Ericka Ann McKeever, are some of the best shooters in the Country, going head-to-head with the other best shooters in the Country. This year we have a lot of new faces with a large sophomore class, but they are talented and getting more dangerous with every tournament.
Sporting Clays Team: 2nd Place Drake Cooper, Owen Haas, and Jackson Ezelee
Super Sporting Team: 1st Owen Haas, Jackson Ferland, and Chase Buerger
Trap Team: 3rd Place Chase Buerger, Owen Haas, Dan Bradley, Drake Cooper, and Ericka Ann McKeever
Skeet Team: 3rd Place Chase Buerger, Charlie Moody, and Miles Carson
Individuals:
Super Sporting: 1st Owen Haas 48 (highest score of the weekend)
Ladies Trap: 2nd (after winning 4-way shootoff) Ericka Ann McKeever 94
Collegiate
There's not much to say about this crew except that it says a lot about our program that these College kids want to come back and shoot for the Juniors and are still outstanding. It was a clean sweep from the FCGCJ old guys.
Sporting Clays Team: 1st Jake Summerford, Jackson Schaaf, and Walker McDonald
Skeet Team: 1st James Daters, Nathan Porter, and Jackson Schaaf
Super Sporting: Team 1st Jake Summerford, Jake Kinlaw, and Walker McDonald
Trap Team: 1st Jake Summerford, Walker McDonald, Nathan Porter, James Daters, and Jackson Schaaf
Individuals:
Sporting Clays: T-1 and 2nd and 3rd after Shootoff Jackson Schaaf 94 and Jake Summerford 94
Super Sporting: 1st Jake Summerford 47 2nd Jake Kinlaw 45
Skeet: 1st James Daters 100, Nathan Porter 3rd 99
Trap: 1st Jake Summerford 99
The FCGCJ has three weeks to get ready for the SCTP Nationals. The team will be going for the Four-Peat!
PHOTO CREDIT: DeDe Cargil
NOTE: Team picture - FCGCJ SCTP Southeast Regional Champions
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