Hi everyone. The weather is slowly breaking in Illinois, and the shoots are coming hot and heavy. The Illinois Southern Zone Shoot was held on May 3 and 4 at Brittany shooting park. The weather was horrible but the Southern Zone shooters still showed up and competed. Thanks to all of you that persevered that weekend. The winners were: In-Zone Singles was Austin Carlin; Out-of-Zone Singles was Myles Arrowsmith. In-Zone Doubles was Carson Sievers and Out-of-Zone Doubles was Coltyn Schutte. In-Zone Handicap was Trey Rohlfing and Out-of-Zone Handicap was Myles Arrowsmith. Steve Margherio won In-Zone HAA and Myles Arrowsmith won Out of Zone HAA. Congratulations to all the winners. We also have a new Director. Jesse Tedrick defeated Dennis Baker in an election and will be assuming his new duties. Many thanks go out to Dennis for all the hard work he has done through the years for the ISTA.
The following weekend the Illinois Central Zone shoot took place at the Peoria Skeet and Trap Club. As bad as the weather was the previous week, it was that good at Peoria. The shooters showed up and we had a great time. The winners were: In-Zone Singles was Mike Dennis and Out-of-Zone Singles was Rodney Johnson. In-Zone Doubles was Anthony Fortino and Out-of-Zone Doubles was Stephan Terzo. In-Zone Handicap was Mason Duran and Out-of-Zone Handicap was Mack Webb. Finally, Mike Westjohn won In-Zone HAA and Matt Nicol won Out of Zone HAA.
I have received word that Illinois has lost two shooters this past month. Rollie Segar and Frank Degrazia have both passed. Both of them were good shooters, good friends, and most importantly, good men. As I said last month about Ron Cox Sr., these men have been the bedrock of trapshooting in our state for years. It is so sad to me that people like them are no longer here with us. Rest well men. You have earned it.
The AIM program has the ALL-STAR team which is the equivalent of the All-American team with adults. There are 4 categories with 20 kids in each category, for a grand total of 80 kids. Illinois has 21 of those 80 kids, or in other words, Illinois had one quarter of all the ALL-STARS. There are a couple of groups of people I need to give a shout out to for creating this amazing stat. The Mohr family at Brittany Shooting Park do a wonder job of organizing AIM so that we have more kids shooting all the time. I also want to congratulate the coaches around the state who develop all this young talent. I am in awe of the jobs you all are doing.
Finally, Jason Hassler has reached the 25,000 milestone in Handicap. Great shooting, Jason.
Shoot well and support your local clubs.
Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate