It might be time for the Forest City Gun Club to build a bigger trophy case for its Juniors program, which last week won its sixth consecutive Scholastic Clay Target Program national championship in Marengo, Ohio.
Photo: Champions again! The Forest City Juniors celebrate their sixth straight SCTP National Championship title with a full team photo. Courtesy of DeDe Gill.
“If we were to hold on to all the trophies that they’ve won, we would have to have our own building,” said general manager Zac Guerrettaz, also the head coach of the Forest City Juniors since their first competitive season in 2014. “A couple of years ago, we started giving the squad trophies to the high shooter or best shooter on the squad because we were simply running out of room.”
The Forest City Juniors finished with a total score of 2,113 on 2,220 targets, with totals of 594 in skeet, 538 in sporting clays, and 981 in trap at the Cardinal Shooting Center in Marengo, Ohio.
Iowa’s Pella Christian Eagles, who were 479 birds ahead when Forest City took its turn on Saturday in trap shooting, finished eight behind with a 2,105 total.
“It’s a lot of hard work, dedication,” Guerrettaz said. “It just takes a lot of clear-minded kids to shoot to the best of their ability.”
The Forest City Juniors fulfilled a pledge of “Six for Scot,” honoring the memory of team family member and supporter Scot Ritchie, who died earlier this year.
Lee Summerford, program director and a coach for the Forest City Juniors since their founding, gave his assessment of the sustained success, and there should be no dispute from competitors.
“At some point you have to call it what it is, and this is a dynasty,” Summerford wrote in his tournament summary.
While capturing its sixth consecutive national championship in the Varsity division, Forest City earned 18 squad and individual national titles last weekend, for more than 80 total in the past six years.
Curt Jones became the club’s second-ever Men’s High Overall Award (HOA) individual winner, and the 2025 Calvary Day School graduate did so in dramatic fashion. Jones, who will attend Georgia Southern, shot a perfect 200 on trap over Friday and Saturday. He totaled 580 out of 600 targets for sporting clays (184), skeet (196), and trap.
PHOTO: Curt Jones in action — and in victory. The Forest City standout earned the Men’s High Overall Award at the SCTP National Championships, becoming just the second in club history to do so. Courtesy of DeDe Gill.
The Forest City Juniors’ HOA scores for the overall win:
Sporting Clays: Curt Jones 184, Walker Peters 177, Chase Buerger 177.
Skeet: Chaz Palmer 199, Gavin Walmsley 198, Caleb Vo 197.
Trap: Curt Jones 200, Mills Hollis 199, Chase Buerger 195, Landyn Fries 194,
Georgia Kennedy 193.
A rising eighth-grader at Savannah Country Day, Vo, with his 197 in skeet, became the first Intermediate Advanced shooter to have a qualifying score for an HOA team national championship, the Forest City Juniors said. Vo placed second (556) after a shootoff in the Intermediate HOA individual competition.
Emaline Haddad placed second (563) and Georgia Kennedy fourth (555) in the Ladies HOA individual competition. Kennedy and Buerger signed with Clemson University in June at the gun club on Ferguson Avenue.
The Forest Junior shooters in the Rookie division swept all five events in claiming the overall team title. Hunter Brigdon was third and Hunter Vick sixth individually for the Rookie HOA.
Jackson Ferland, a leader on the 2024 national champion Varsity squad, now competes in the Collegiate division and placed second for the HOA.
The Georgia SCTP, on its Facebook page, noted that teams from the Peach State have won the national crown eight times and congratulated the Forest City Juniors for six in a row.
“Year after year, Forest City sets the standard with discipline, focus and a deep commitment to excellence. We couldn’t be prouder of their continued legacy,” the Georgia SCTP wrote.
The Etowah Valley Mambas’ fourth-place finish (2,075) also was recognized, giving Georgia two representatives in the top five out of 333 teams and more than 3,100 athletes. Summerford detailed that the Savannah-based team had traveled to Ohio with 54 shooters and more than 20 coaches in his daily reports.
“It’s a very good ratio,” Guerrettaz said. “We’re very blessed. We’ve got a lot of volunteers that want to see the program succeed and the kids shoot well to the best of their ability and grow our sport. The cool thing is most of the volunteers are really good shots themselves or good mental coaches, so we’re pretty blessed on that.”
He said there are coaches who continue to come out every week to help the team years after their own children have aged out. Guerrettaz thanks all of the parents for being very important to the program’s success.
“First and foremost, you’ve got to have a really good gun club,” he said. “We’re fortunate that we have the Forest City Gun Club to call home. It’s a large venue. We didn’t necessarily need a large venue in the beginning. But now, with as many kids on the team (67), it’s very important.”
Top results for Forest City Gun Club Juniors:
Trap
Varsity Division: 3. FCGC, Curt Jones 200, Mills Hollis 199, Chase Buerger 195, Landyn Fries 194, Georgia Kennedy 193. Note: Jones was part of a four-way tie for first individually and finished third after a shootoff.
Rookie: 1. Hunter Brigdon 185, Hunter Vick 160, John Klein 139, Alden Shahein 137, Mason Guerrettaz 112.
Collegiate: 3. Jackson Ferland 196, James Daters 191, Lawson Zhou 191, Aiden Strickland 184, Rut Missroon 160.
Skeet:
Varsity: 1. Chaz Palmer 199, Gavin Walmsley 198, Emaline Haddad 197.
Individuals: 1. Palmer 199.
Ladies (individuals): 2. Emaline Haddad 197, 5. Georgia Kennedy 195.
Intermediate Advanced: 1. Caleb Vo 197, Jacob Butler 193, Chip Klein 188.
Individuals: 1. Vo 197, 4. Butler 193.
Intermedia Entry: 1. Sam Thorpe 191, Mac Reardon 186, Ansley McIntosh 180.
Individuals: 2. Thorpe 191.
Ladies: 2. McIntosh 180.
Rookes: 1. Hunter Brigdon 189, Hunter Vick 181, Zach Grassi 161.
Individuals: 3. Brigdon 189, 4. Vick 181.
Collegiate: 3. Jackson Ferland 198, Lawson Zhou 193, James Daters 193.
Sporting Clays
Varsity: 3. Curt Jones 185, Chase Buerger 177, Walker Peters 177.
Ladies (individuals): 3. Emaline Haddad 174.
Junior Varsity: 3. Frank Kamaleson 166, Oliver Whelan 165, Walker Brown 158.
Intermediate Advanced: 1. Caleb Vo 170, Hunter Martin 170, Chip Klein 169.
Intermediate Entry: 1. Sam Thorpe 166, Mac Reardon 163, Deacon Fetterman 140.
Individuals: 2. Thorpe 166, 5. Reardon 163.
Ladies (individuals): 4. Ansley McIntosh 138.
Rookie: 1. Hunter Vick 165, Hunter Brigdon 159, Zach Grassi 112.
Individuals: 3. Vick 165, 5. Brigdon 159.
Collegiate (individuals): 2. Jackson Ferland 185.
Doubles Skeet
Varsity: 1. Lucas McKenzie 98, Chase Buerger 97, Gavin Walmsley 97. Note: McKenzie was fourth individually.
Ladies (individuals): 2. Ayden McKenzie 96, 5. Georgia Kennedy 96.
Junior Varsity: 2. Frank Kamaleson 92, Oliver Whelan 90, Marshall Pedigo 88.
Intermediate Advanced: 1. Rett Shurling 92, Caleb Vo 92, Chip Klein 91.
Intermediate Entry: 1. Ansley McIntosh 99, Mac Reardon 93, Sam Thorpe 92.
Ladies (individuals). 1. McIntosh 99.
Individuals: 3. Reardon 93, 4. Thorpe 92.
Rookies: 1. Hunter Brigdon 89, Hunter Vick 82, John Klein 67.
Individuals: 3. Brigdon 89, 5. Vick 82.
Super Sporting Clays
Varsity: 1. Mills Hollis 97, Gavin Walmsley 96, Curt Jones 96.
Varsity Ladies (individuals): 3. Emaline Haddad 91, 4. Gracen Garceau 90, 5. Bailey Stokes 89.
Junior Varsity: 2. Oliver Whelan 96, Frank Kamaleson 91, Sterling Recicar 79.
Individuals: T4. Whelan 96.
Intermediate Advanced: 2. Caleb Vo 95, Jacob Butler 90, Chip Klein 85.
Individuals: 2. Vo 95.
Intermediate Entry Ladies (individual): 2. Ansley McIntosh 82.
Rookie: 1. Hunter Vick 93, Hunter Brigdon 85, Zach Grassi 71.
Individuals: 2. Vick 93, 4. Brigdon 85.
Make-A-Break team event
2. Curt Jones 52, Chase Buerger 50, Mills Hollis 47, Lucas McKenzie 43, Landyn Fries 42.
FOREST CITY JUNIORS’ SCTP NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
2025 (2,113 of 2,200 targets)
2024 (2,132)
2023 (2,110)
2022 (2,122)
2021 (2,106)
2020 (2,093)
Photos courtesy DeDe Cargill for the Forest City Juniors
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