The Forest City Gun Club (FCGC) Juniors program was the defending three-peat National champions from Savannah, Georgia, heading into the 2023 Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) National competition.
The SCTP Nationals is a shotgun competition composed of teams throughout the United States. This year there were over 3000 athletes from more than 300 teams. The squads are formed of girls and boys from 3rd grade through college who shoot in three disciplines, Skeet, Sporting Clays, and Trap.
Disciplines:
Skeet - Clay targets are launched from two skeet houses, one high house and one low house, 80 feet and 40 feet away from the shooter. The shooter must hit as many targets as possible within a 25-shot round. The competition is usually four rounds for 100 targets, but the National Championship is 200 targets.
Sporting Clays - Clay targets (birds) are launched from various locations at 15 different stations in the woods (or over corn fields in Ohio), including high birds, low birds, fast birds, birds on the ground called rabbits, and over water. Think about golf with a shotgun. The shooter must hit as many targets as possible within a 100-shot round—two 100-shot rounds for Nationals.
Trap - Clay targets are released going away at varying angles from a single trap house 16 yards away from the shooter. The shooter must hit as many targets as possible within a 25-shot round—200 targets for Nationals.
Before the last day of the Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) Nationals trap discipline competition at the Cardinal Center in Marengo, Ohio, on July 15, 2023. The Forest City Juniors were in great shape to win their 4th straight SCTP National Championship. How did this occur?
Because both Forest City Junior trap squads shot incredibly well, the second-place Lake Oconee Shotgun Team (who beat the Juniors for the State Championship in June by four targets) was mathematically eliminated before they even fired a shot.
The High Overall winning scores:
Skeet:
Drake Cooper 199
David Butler 198
Charlie Moody 197
Trap:
Jackson Ferland 193
Chase Buerger 193
Owen Haas 191
Miles Carson 190
Curt Jones 186
Sporting Clays:
Curt Jones 190
Jackson Ferland 187
Owen Haas 186
The Forest City Juniors won over Lake Oconee by 15 birds with a score of 2110/2200, giving Forest City "FOUR" SCTP National Championships in a row. The crazy thing is that five of the eight youth shooters at FCGC are only sophomores, according to coach Lee Summerford. "We thought this was going to be a rebuilding year, but all we did was reload," said Summerford.
In addition to the High Overall Award team award, the team brought home 20 Individual and Squad National Championships across all divisions and all disciplines, from the Rookies to the Collegiate ranks.
Collegiate Team Skeet National Champions: Jackson Schaaf 198, Nathan Porter 198, and Jake Kinlaw 198.
Intermediate Team Skeet National Champions: Jacob Butler 194, Grady McKenzie 192, and Lucas McKenzie 190.
Senior Division Team Skeet National Champions: Drake Cooper 199, Jackson Ferland 198, and David Butler 198.
High School Team National Champion - Benedictine Military School: Drake Cooler 199, Jackson Ferland 199, and Charlie Moody 197.
Yes, the Juniors swept the 4 Team Skeet National Championships.
Intermediate Entry Skeet National Champions: Jacob Butler 194, Grady McKenzie 192, and Chars Lapp 188.
Varsity Squad Skeet National Champions: Drake Cooper 199, David Butler 198, and Charlie Moody 197. (Forest City Varsity also won 2nd, 3rdand 4th Places).
Intermediate Entry Skeet National Champion Jacob Butler 194 (95-99) (and he's a 6th Grader).
Intermediate Advanced Skeet ladies National Champion Bella Grace Baker 185.
Junior Varsity Skeet Ladies National Champion Ayden McKenzie 197.
Moving to Sporting Clays:
Intermediate Entry Sporting Clays National Champions: Grady McKenzie 174, Chars Lapp 169, and Jacob Butler 166.
Varsity Sporting Clays National Champions: Curt Jones 190, Jackson Ferland 187, and Owen Haas 186.
Finally, the Make-A-Break National Championship: Owen Haas, Curt Jones, Dan Bradley, Jackson Ferland, and David Butler.
National Champions for Skeet Doubles:
Whalen Palmer scored 81 points, Hunter Vick scored 80, and Corbin Lynes scored 56 and won the Rookie Skeet Doubles National Championship.
Chars Lapp, Grady McKenzie, and Jacob Butler won the Intermediate Entry Doubles Skeet Squad National Championship with 91, 89, and 85 scores.
Chars Lapp won the National Intermediate Entry Individual Doubles Skeet title with a 91.
Lucas McKenzie won the National title for Intermediate Advanced Individual Doubles Skeet with a score of 97.
Owen Haas, Jackson Ferland, and Miles Carson won the Varsity Doubles Skeet Squad National Championship with 100, 96, and 92 scores.
Owen Haas won the Varsity Individual Doubles Skeet National Title with a score of 100.
Summerford noted that the Forest City Juniors have been to Nationals for ten years and learned early on that the discipline of Trap was a sport dominated by shooters from the Midwest. They worked hard to be competitive in Trap leading to three Overall championships, but they were still chasing an elusive Trap National Championship. That changed this year as they won Trap Championships at the Intermediate Entry and Collegiate levels.
SCTP Trap National Champions:
Chars Lapp scored 185, Lucas McKenzie scored 184, Owen Washburn scored 181, Jacob Butler scored 176, and Chip Klein scored 175 to win the Intermediate Entry Trap Squad National Champions.
The college Collegiate squad of Jake Summerford scored 198; Jackson Schaaf scored 197; Nathan Porter scored 194; James Daters scored 190; and Walker McDonald scored 187 to claim the Collegiate Trap Squad National Champions.
PHOTO CREDIT: Forest City Juniors Facebook page - Allana Strickland
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