By Jacob Mayer
Young shooters from around the country converged Friday and Saturday on the World Shooting and Recreational Complex in Sparta for the Scholastic Clay Target Program national championships.
More than 1,700 grade school and high school age shooters from 27 states competed in divisions including trap, skeet and sporting clays.
For trapshooting, the Trico five-person team led the local teams in the intermediate entry level with a team score of 846, placing them 10th. Trico ended up 68 points behind the first-place Crete Ikes team from Nebraska, which had a team score of 914.
The shooters for Trico in the intermediate entry level were Brandon Froemling (179), Hank Garver (170), Chris Cotton (169), Tyler Thies (168) and Michael Wanless (160).
Marissa followed with a 16th-place finish in intermediate entry with a score of 796. Alexander Dietrich and Wyatt Ford both shot a 166, Jonathan Reinhardt had a 161, Ryan Erickson shot a 160 and Trevor Sinn followed with a 143.
The Marissa squad narrowly beat Pinckneyville’s team, which posted a score of 795. Lee Wittehauer had a score of 170, followed by Seth Loos (168), Nicholas Bauersachs (161), Caleb Lee (151) and Tyler Thomas (145).
Trico also had a team that placed 20th in the intermediate advanced division, which was won by Team Henges from Missouri with a score of 947. Trico had a team score of 808. Individually, Dalton Eilers scored a 177, Grant Doerner had a 175, Tyler Reiman followed with a 158, Trenton Fisk had a score of 155 and Hunter Heine shot a 143.
At the junior varsity level, Trico again led local teams with a 26th-place finish and a score of 859. Chase Carruthers led the squad with a score of 190, Kolton Pool shot a 179, Gannon Richelman had a 175, Kyle Lindner shot a 161 and Lauren Hoyt posted a 154.
Pinckneyville also had two teams in the junior varsity division. The J.V. Make Up Squad finished 33rd with a score of 822, while the J.V. A Squad came in 37th and a score of 791. For the Make Up Squad, Jared Pritchett put up a score of 176, followed by Richard Jones (167), Todd Bathon (162), Andy Opp (160) and Ethan Trail (157). Chad Howard led the A Squad with a 176, Chelsea McNew had a 157, Tommy Knight and Michael Jones each had a 156 and Jacob Sprehe finished with a score of 146.
The Carroll County Claybusters won the junior varsity division with 946 points.
At the varsity level, the Marissa A Squad led local teams with a score of 910, good enough for 45th place. Andrew Feig came in with a score of 195, followed by Lloyd Geralds (185), Tyler Sinn (184), Sonni Merlenbach (180) and Kyle Jones (166).
The Red Bud A Squad came in 52nd with 901 points. For the team, Michael Schrand posted a 192, followed by Steven Liedtky (182), Taylor Krause (180), Adam Piel (179) and Chelsea Curten (168).
Pinckneyville’s A Squad tied for 61st with the Gateway Claybusters from Missouri and the Osceola Rod and Gun Club with 885 points. Jessica Farthing led Pinckneyville’s squad with a score of 189, followed by Dylan Pritchett (183), Levi Craig (181), Zach McCrary (175) and Devon Schubert (157).

The Trico A Squad finished three points ahead of the Sparta Bird Dogs A Squad with 871 points. Trico was led by Clint Reiman with a score of 184, Lane Dierks with a 176, Levi Gaetz with a 174, Dustin Garver with a 171 and Tad Lee with a score of 166.
The Sparta A Squad had 868 points and was led by Justin DeWitt, who put up a 199. Samuel Penford scored a 184, Michaela Crabtree came in with a 176, Michael Decker had a 161 and Johnathan Doane scored a 148.
The Chester Yellow Jackets came in 81st with a score of 862, beating the Steeleville high school trap team by one point.
Dakota Crawford led Chester with a 193 score, followed by Casey Venable (175), Aaron Diercks (173), Logan Handel (161) and Jonathan Hoffman (160).
For Steeleville, which finished with 861 points, Seth Troue put up a score of 189 to lead the squad. He was followed by Travis Jeffers (180), Jeff Brockmeyer (172), Keith Hamilton (169) and Dylan Wesbecher (151).
The Chester, Sparta and Red Bud B Squads wrapped up the local showing in the varsity division, coming in 94th, 95th and 96th, respectively.
Jacob Bohnert led the Chester squad, followed by Nathan Hubert (177), Dillon Neal and Soloman Mueller (146) and Daniel Walls (139).
For Sparta, Ethan Pierce led the squad with a score of 184. He was followed by Jayden Auvenshine (167), Donald Roundtree (153), Miranda Stewart (146) and Joy Wiesen (112).
Amanda Behnken led the Red Bud squad with a score of 164. She was followed by Ryan Liefer (162), Andrew Crain (151), Kolan Schoenbeck (139) and Jace Duncan (129).
A&A Shooters out of California took first in the varsity division with 985 points.
In skeet, Marissa represented the area, coming in 35th with a score of 494. Andrew Feig led the squad with a score of 173. Lloyd Geralds put up a score of 165, while Tyler Sinn finished with a 156.
3@8 Red from Tennessee won the skeet division with a score of 589.
For the sporting clays program, teams from Pinckneyville and Marissa finished sixth and seventh, respectively. Pinckneyville posted a score of 399 and was led by Andy Opp with a score of 141. He was followed by Nichol Bauersachs (132) and Caleb Lee (126).
With 394 points, Marissa was led by Jonathan Reinhardt with a score of 153. He was followed by Alexander Dietrich (122) and Ryan Erickson (119).
Pinckneyville also placed 25th in the J.V. division with 392 points. Todd Bathon and Michael Jones each posted a 137, and Jacob Sprehe finished with a score of 118.