The Forest City Juniors from Forest City Gun Club in Savannah are in Marengo, Ohio. They are going for a fifth consecutive high overall team award in the 
varsity division at the annual Scholastic Clay Target Program National Championships. Forest City Juniors Program Director Lee Summerford is with the team and is providing daily updates to the Prep Sports Report:
Thursday was a great day in Central Ohio for the Forest City Juniors, who were competing in the 2024 SCTP National Championships, which featured over 300 teams and 3,200 competitors.
We started with Skeet and built on our great start from Wednesday. Remember when I told you we own this strip of land in Ohio? We proved it again today with a whole lot of 25 straights, 50 straights, 75 straights, and a pair of 100 straights by Varsity Shooters Jackson Ferland and Landyn Fries.
Ferland's 100 straight, coupled with a pair of 99s by his squadmates Ericka Ann McKeever and Miles Carson, gave them all 198/200 for the tournament and led our Varsity Squad to another National Championship and a great start to the defense of our 4 Straight High Overall National Championship! Their 594/600 was one target better than the Etowah Valley Mambas, who beat us in June for the Georgia State HOA Championship.
But that was only the beginning of the winning.
Ericka Ann McKeever's 198 also gave her the Ladies Varsity National Championship, with two of her teammates, Emaline Haddad and Ayden McKenzie, putting up 197s to land in a four-way tie for second!
At the Collegiate level, Walker McDonald and Jackson Schaaf both had 196s, and Jake Summerford and James Daters chipped in with a pair of 195s to claim the Second Place Team Award.
In Junior Varsity, the squad of Levi Ward (194), Lucas McKenzie (192), and Porter Wood (191) took second-place honors while teammates Walker-Peters (194), Chaz Palmer (194), and Gavin Kerby (175) finished in 5th Place.
At the Intermediate-Advanced level, the squad of Jacob Butler (196), Grady McKenzie (196), and Nicholas Nowell (190) claimed the National Championship with the squad of Chars Lapp (196), Archer Ritchie (189), and Jimmy Adams (182) taking 5th Place. Individually, Jacob Butler, Chars Lapp, and Grady McKenzie all tied with 196 to finish 3rd, 5th, and 6th, respectively, after a reverse-run tiebreaker. That trio of 196s also gave them the Overall Intermediate National Championship, which combines scores from Intermediate-Advanced and Intermediate-Entry!
For our Intermediate-Entry shooters, the squad of Caleb Vo (181), Hunter Martin (181), and Whalen Palmer (178) finished in Second Place overall.
At the Rookie level, Deacon Fetterman posted an incredible 97 Thursday to finish with a 188 for the Individual Rookie National Championship and combined with Sam Thorpe, who finished 5th (182), and Hunter Brigdon (167) for what must be the 5th or 6th straight Rookie Skeet National Championship for Coach Mark Cribbs' youngsters.
They weren't done there, though, as the squad of Hunter Vick (177), Wynn Palmer (146), and Lucas Lockwood (138) claimed 5th Place. Also at the rookie level, Emery Hart shot an amazing 186 to win the Ladies Rookie National Championship for a clean sweep atop the Podium at the Rookie Level.
That's SEVEN different squads and individual National Championships just in Skeet! Our kids truly are collectively the best youth skeet shooters in America.
After finishing Skeet, we moved to the Red Course at the Sporting Clays complex. In a bittersweet personal moment, my son, Jake Summerford, finished his SCTP Sporting Clays career by leading the team with a 97 today to finish with a 190 and combine with Owen Haas (188) and James Daters (186) for the Collegiate National Championship. Jake's 190 was good for 5th Place overall.
With a lot of pressure and a lot on the line, the Varsity squad of Jackson Ferland (192), Curt Jones (188), and Mills Hollis (187) pulled out a clutch performance to win the Varsity National Championship by seven important birds to once again put us ahead of our primary rival, the Etowah Valley Mambas. That performance also gave them the overall Senior Varsity/Junior Varsity combined division National Championship.
In a competition within the competition category, there is also an award for the Top 3 shooters from the same High School at SCTP Nationals, and Ferland and Hollis combined with Senior Charlie Moody (179) claimed the High School National Sporting Clays Championship for Benedictine Military School, followed closely behind Savanah Country Day School in Second Place with Jackson Ezelle (187), Miles Carson (185) and Chase Buerger (183).
Ferland's 192 was one off the tournament high of 193 to put him in a four-way tie for 2nd Place, with him finishing in 4th after the "secret station" tiebreaker.
At the Junior Varsity level, Coach Ray McDonald's top squad of Porter Wood (180), Lucas McKenzie (180), and Levi Ward (177) also claimed the National Championship by an impressive 15-bird margin. McKenzie and Wood ended up in a three-way tie for 4th, with Lucas finishing 5th and Porter finishing 6th after the tiebreaker.
The Intermediate-Advanced squad of Jacob Butler (176), Grady McKenzie (172), and Nicholas Nowell (171) backed up their Skeet win with a Sporting Clays National Championship as well.
In Intermediate-Entry, Hunter Martin (164), Caleb Vo (157), and Whalen Palmer (143) came in 4th Place.
At the Rookie level, we had two different squads make the Podium with 3rd Place going to Sam Thorpe (158), Deacon Fetterman (136) and Hunter Vick (121) and 4th Place going to Wynn Palmer (144), Hunter Brigdon (138) and LucasLockwood (125). Sam Thorpe finished 5th individually and Emery Hart finished 3rd in the Ladies Rookie event.
That's a combined THIRTEEN National Championships in just Skeet and Sporting Clays!
The Forest City Juniors are off to a great start in our Drive for Five! We shoot Doubles Skeet and the first half of Trap today (Friday, July 19, 2024), and we plan to keep on doing what we do.
PHOTO CREDIT: Mary Dekle Summerford
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