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After winning their fourth state Scholastic Clay Target Program title, the Forest City Gun Club Junior Clay Sport (FCGC) team had their sights on a three-peat at the 2022 Scholastic Clay Target (SCTP) National Championship that took place July 15-16 at the Cardinal Shooting Center Marengo, Ohio.
The FCGC juniors emerged victorious again, earning the SCTP national title for the third straight year. Not only did the FCGC juniors capture the team title, several individual national champions were crowned as well.
Here is the breakdown of the two last days via team FCGC junior program director Lee Summerford:
Rich Pazderski is the Varsity National Champion, leading all 1,600 athletes shooting sporting clays with a 98 Wednesday followed by a 99 Thursday for an incredible 197/200. All told, six of the Top 25 scores in the tournament came from FCGC juniors, led by Pazderski's 197, Dawson and Douglas Williams with a pair of 191s, Jake Summerford and Colin Davis with 188s, and Owen Haas with a 187.
With these scores, the FCGC Junior's College Squad of Douglas Williams, Colin Davis, and Jake Summerford claimed their second straight national championship, and the Varsity team claimed not one but two national championships with a top squad of Pazderski, Williams, and Schaaf and an entire team score from Pazderski, Williams and Haas.
Also claiming Sporting Clays National Championships were Rookie Chars Lapp (180) along with his Rookie Squad of Lapp, Jacob Butler (155), and IV Fetterman (125). Nicholas Nowell finished second in Rookie with a 158, and Butler's 155 was good enough for third.
Dawson Williams (191) claimed third in Varsity, and Drake Cooper's 185 was good for second in Junior Varsity. Emaline Haddad (163) finished second, and her partner, Ayden McKenzie (159), finished fifth 5th in Ladies Intermediate Advanced.
In the Skeet fields, FCGC Juniors were even more successful.
Newcomer Landyn Fries captured the Ladies Intermediate Entry National Championship with a 183, and her running buddies Grey Garceau and June McKenzie finished fifth and sixth.
McKenzie claimed another Ladies Intermediate Advanced National Skeet Championship with an impressive 192/200. That’s three national championships in a row for the 8th grader.
At the Varsity Level, Anna Loren Dekle and Abi Pazderski combined a 99 and a 98 for 197s that tied them for second, with Anna Loren winning the reverse run tiebreaker for runner up. These two girls led all of the team’s Varsity skeet shooters.
Just in 5th Grade, Rookie Chars Lapp shot a 95 and closed with a 97, including 75 Straight to run away with the Rookie National Championship. He also led his squad of Jacob Butler and Archer Ritchie a team national championship. Rookies Chip Klein and IV Fetterman tied for second behind Lapp, and Jacob Butler finished fifth the FCGC team almost swept the podium.
Colin Davis claimed the College National Championship with a 199/200 to lead all shooters for the week and also led the FCGC College team's defense of their national championship along with Walker McDonald's pair of 99s and Douglas Williams and Jake Summerford's 195s.
It's always close and always nerve-racking. In 2020, the FCGC won its first HOA National Championship by just six birds, and in 2021, the team won by just one bird.
But not this year.
The team won by 29 targets over the Allen Eagles from Texas, shooting 2,122 out of 2,200 targets across Skeet, Sporting Clays, and Trap. Thwe FCGC juniors had a 21-bird lead going into the final 500 trap targets, meaning the team only needed to shoot 479 to win.
Senior Captains Dawson Williams, Jackson Schaaf, and Rich Pazderski are battle-tested Warriors who have been on the line for the last two national championships. Joined by Owen Haas and Jackson Ferland, they took the field for the last time, and, despite a steady rain, they made it look easy. They shot 99-98-98-98-98 for a total of 491 to ensure the victory.
As the FCGC juniors celebrated on the field after the last shot, the team was able to let senior Rich Pazderski know that he was the first FCGC junior to earn the honor of being named National Individual HOA Champion.
Pazderski shot 98-99 in Sporting Clays to win a national championship and then a 97-97 in Skeet, which was excellent but not what he wanted. He believed HOA was off the table and focused on the team’s score while on the Trap field.
The High Overall Squads consisted of:
Skeet: Rich Pazderski, Owen Haas and James Daters
Sporting Clays: Dawson Williams, Rich Pazderski, and Jackson Schaaf
Trap: Dawson Williams, Jackson Schaaf, Rich Pazderski, Jackson Ferland, and Owen Haas.
Led by Pazderski's HOA score of 587, FCGC had seven of the Top 30 overall shooters out of 3500 shooters, including:
T-8th Dawson Williams and Owen Haas
T-25th Jackson Schaaf, Drake Cooper, and Charlie Moody
30th Jackson Ferland
Mills Hollis finished sixth in the Intermediate Division on the boy's side. Chars Lapp finished third in Rookie HOA to go along with three individual national championships. Other Individual HOA finishers included Ayden McKenzie, who finished second in Ladies Intermediate Division and Emaline Haddad in seventh Place.
At the Collegiate level, Colin Davis was HOA Runner-Up, Douglas Williams finished third and Jake Summerford fifth.
This year there were also High School Awards for shooters from the same high school. Savannah Country Day and BC placed in both Skeet and Sporting Clays, and BC was crowned High School National Champions in Trap with Savannah Country Day finishing fifth overall.
All told, the FCGC juniors claimed 23 national championships.
Trap Competition
Trap competition is stiff at nationals with 1,800 shooters for skeet and sporting clays but 3,500 trap shooters. The FCGC juniors had three champions this year.
The Intermediate Entry Squad of Landyn Fries (170), June Mckenzie (158), Grey Garceau (171), Jimmy Adams (165), and Alex Ray (171) finished in fifth place. Our Varsity team of Dawson Williams (195), Jackson Schaaf (191), Rich Pazderski (196), Jackson Ferland (191), and Owen Haas (197) also finished fifth in Varsity Trap.
Finally, our College team came in third Trap with Douglas Williams (194), Jake Summerford (194), Colin Davis (195), Walker McDonald (190), and Greyson Kennedy (182).
Skeet Doubles Competition
The FCGC Junior skeet squad won the national championship and an individual national championship in every division, often putting multiple squads and individuals on the podium in the same division.
Rookie Skeet Doubles
The Rookie Doubles National Champion is Chars Lapp (89), with his third individual national championship during the tournament! The runner up was Nicholas Nowell (83) and third place wen to Chip Klein. Lady's third place went to Mari Clare Dyches (75).
The FCGC Rookies flooded the podium, winning Squad National Championship with Lapp, Jacob Butler, and IV Fetterman. Runner Ups were Gage Hart, Chip Klein, and Archer Ritchie. Third place Mari Clare Dyches, Nicholas Nowell, and Deacon Fetterman.
Intermediate-Entry Skeet Doubles
Intermediate Entry National Championship for Skeet Doubles went to first-year shooter Alex Ray with an incredible 94. On the Lady's side, Emily Dyches finished second with an 85, and Landyn Fries finished third with an 84.
The IE Squad of Ray, Fries, and Grey Garceau won the Squad National Championship, and Emily Dyches, Jimmy Adams, and June McKenzie were Runner-Ups.
Intermediate Advanced Skeet Doubles
Ayden McKenzie claimed another national championship in Doubles Skeet with a 95, and Marshall Kent finished in third place with a 94.
The Intermediate Advanced Squad of Ayden McKenzie (95), Mills Hollis (91), and Jack McKenzie (91) claimed the national championship followed by Runner-Up teammates Sam Anderson (93), Jim Reynolds Morrison (93), and Lucas McKenzie (86).
Junior Varsity Skeet Doubles
The Junior Varsity had a trio of 99s to sweep the podium after tiebreakers, with Cooper claiming the national championship, Chase Buerger as Runner-Up, and Miles Carson as third place.
The JV Squad of Cooper, Buerger, and David Butler (90) won another national championship, followed by Runner-Ups Carson, Jackson Ezelle (91), and Curt Jones (92).
Varsity Skeet Doubles
Dawson Williams shot a perfect 100 to win the Varsity Doubles Skeet National Championship.
The Varsity Squad of Rich Pazderski (98), Jackson Schaaf (97), and Jackson Ferland (97) claimed the Squad National Championship. Williams also led the team of James Daters (98) and Owen Haas (89) to a third Place finish.
Collegiate Skeet Doubles
Douglas Williams claimed the College National Championship in Doubles Skeet with a 99, followed by Colin Davis with a 98 in second place. The two of them combined with Ella Whitley to close the book on a clean sweep of national championships across all divisions.
The FCGC juniors also had a second-place finish in the Open Division (squads with shooters from different divisions) when JV shooter Dan Bradley combined with Varsity shooters Pericles Lelos and Jackson Mondy.
The FCGC juniors are the first team to win three straight SCTP National Championships, a dynasty fueled by years of hard work, practice and dedication by all involved that came together in Ohio for another Forest City Gun Club Juniors championship.
Photo credit - DeDe Cargill on Facebook
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