Walker McDonald and Jake Summerford, two of the original eight members of the Forest City Gun Club’s Juniors program, are taking their last shots at national championships.
The odds are excellent they won’t come back to Savannah empty handed.
The Forest City Juniors are going for a fifth consecutive high overall team award in the varsity division at the annual Scholastic Clay Target Program National Championships, which are July 9-20 in Marengo, Ohio.
PHOTO (l-r): Walker McDonald, Mason Guerrettaz, Jake Summerford
From the original eight in 2014, the program now numbers 86 shooters ages 9-22, from third grade through college. McDonald, who is at Mercer, and Summerford, who just graduated from Georgia College & State University, are in their 10th and final SCTP Nationals.
They were captains of the first national title teams and now lead the Collegiate division, which is defending national championships in all three disciplines: skeet, trap and sporting clays.
Forest City has 63 boys and eight girls competing from July 17-20 at nationals, which features about 3,300 shooters.
“The growth of the program tracks with the growth of the sport,” Lee Summerford, Jake’s father and program director of the Juniors, wrote in an email to Prep Sports Report.
He wrote that 10 years ago, 72 shooters represented teams at the regional tournament, which has grown to more than 600 competing. Participation at nationals has increased from about 1,200 to more than 3,000, with capacity limited by time and space available.
The Forest City Juniors, formed by head coach Zac Guerrettaz and Lee Summerford, have answered the challenge with four straight varsity team championships in 2020-23 as well as a mighty haul of national honors in the six different divisions and individual men’s and women’s awards in the disciplines, which also include doubles skeet.
They compete in coed squads of three for all events except for trap, which is a five-person squad. Quality depth is critical, particularly as shooters get older and age out of divisions.
“The backbone of our program is the support of the entire Forest City Gun Club and the dedication of our amazing coaching staff,” Lee Summerford wrote. “We have over 40 experienced shotgunners as coaches, including some of our alumni shooters. We have a coaching staff at each of the six levels with different goals and skill sets. Our motto is that we are ‘training champions.’ and it starts with the youngest kids and goes through the collegiate ranks.”
He cited junior varsity coach Ray McDonald, who commended the amount of work put in by the shooters. McDonald has set a goal of 10,000 rounds of practice and competition for the JV shooters from January to July, which doesn’t include the 5,000 or more rounds they might shoot during the GIAA season with their school teams.
“These kids and their families are committed to doing what it takes to succeed,” Summerford wrote. “Winning is not the only goal of the program, but it’s fun. We are truly changing young people’s lives while teaching them about guns and gun safety and what commitment means and how to compete. All great life lessons.”
Forest City faces stiff competition in the state of Georgia, which fields many of the top programs each year at nationals. The Lake Oconee Shotgun Team is a familiar rival, with Summerford also listing the Central Georgia Elite Shooters (2024 regional champions), Etowah Valley Mambas (2024 state champions) and Gator Creek Young Guns.
The Savannah squad finished third in the 2024 Southeast Regional and second at SCTP state, matching its 2023 finish. But those results might only provide more motivation for Forest City in pursuit of a fifth straight national crown. Summerford called it “a reality check and a wake-up call.”
“We have big expectations this year and every year,” Summerford wrote. “We are the premier youth shooting program in the country, not just at the varsity level but all the way down to our fifth grade and below Rookies, which also dominate at the national level and have for years. We are deep and just keep getting deeper and better.”
Among the top returning shooters are seniors Jackson Ferland and Charlie Moody from Benedictine and Ericka Ann McKeever from Savannah Country Day. McKeever was the GIAA 2023 Ladies state champion, and Emaline Haddad of Savannah Christian was the 2022 state champion. Georgia Kennedy of Savannah Arts Academy and Bailey Stokes of South Effingham also are big contributors, as well as Country Day junior Chase Buerger, BC sophomore Mills Hollis (2023 GIAA men’s champion) and Calvary Day junior Curt Jones.
Summerford mentioned these high schools as well as St. Vincent’s, and called it a community-wide effort.
“In the past, we had three to five shooters who could contribute at major competitions,” Summerford wrote, “but this year we have over 20 varsity shooters going to nationals who all have a chance to contribute.”
Among the younger shooters to watch are junior varsity members Lucas McKenzie and Chaz Palmer from Benedictine, Levi Ward from Portal and Porter Wood from Bulloch Academy. The intermediate advanced levels include Grady McKenzie from Hancock Day School and Jacob Butler from Savannah Christian.
PHOTO CREDIT: Forest City Gun Club Juniors
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