By Randy Zellers
JACKSONVILLE — Perfect weather and smiling faces greeted today’s participants in the Arkansas Youth Shooting Sports Program Senior Division competition. Shooters from the program’s West region competed at the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation’s Jacksonville Shooting Sports Complex to take part in the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission program. With last year’s competition canceled because of COVID-19 concerns, everyone was ready to get back to a day of camaraderie in the outdoors.
The Minutemen posted the day’s top score, hitting 232 thrown clay targets out of a possible 250. Lamar Warriors Senior 1 was on their heels, falling short of the first-place pace by only two hit targets. Shiloh Christian School’s Blue Angels took third with a score of 225.
Each member of a trap-shooting squad in the senior division shoots two rounds of 25 targets for a total possible score of 50 per shooter. With five shooters per squad, each team will pull the trigger 250 times before the scoring is done. The top 16 squads in each of four regions across the state are eligible for the AYSSP Junior State Tournament June 4; the AYSSP Senior State Tournament is set for June 5.
The top 16 Senior Division teams who will represent the West Region at the state championship are:
Minutemen AckAck, 232; Lamar Warriors Senior 1, 230; Shiloah Christian School Blue Angels, 225; Berryville Shooting Sports, 224; Shiloh Christian School Thunderbirds, 224; Accuracy in Motion Team A, 221; Berryville Shooting Sports Duck Pluckers, 220; Alma Youth Trap Club, Team Z, 220; Greenwood Bulldogs Powder Monkeys, 219; God’s Great Outdoors Senior 1, 218; Shiloh Christain School Knight Hawks, 217; Greenwood Bulldogs Blazing Barrels, 215; Berryville Shooting Sports Cross-eyed Crickets, 215; Danville FFA 2, 214; Huntsville High School Squad 1, 213; Booneville Senior Bearcats 3, 211.
Botey Teter of Berryville Shooting Sports was the only shooter to run the table today, scoring a perfect 50 out of 50 and leading his team to a fourth-place finish. He will join the perfect shooters from all other regions to compete in the Champion of Champions individual shootoff at the AYSSP State Championship June 5.
This was the third weekend of competition leading up to the championship round. Next week concludes the regionals with South Region teams taking the field May 21-22. Junior division competition (grades 6-8) is held Fridays; senior division competition (grades 9-12) is held Saturdays.
The final rounds of the state championship and third-place match, as well as the Champion of Champions shoot-off to follow, will be carried June 4-5 on the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission YouTube channel with Trey Reid, host of “Arkansas Wildlife,” handling the “clay-by-clay” commentary.
To see all scores from the tournaments, visit https://apps.agfc.com/ayssp.
