Hi everyone. I have a lot to talk about this month, so I am going to dive right in.
I want to recognize some shooters that have reached milestones this month. Mike Hathaway has shot 50,000 Handicap targets. Jack Miller has shot 75,000 Singles targets. Last but not least, Frank Payne and Randy Miller have shot 75,000 Doubles targets. Way to go guys!
Over the Memorial Day weekend, the Central Zone and the Southern Zone shoots were held here in Illinois at Peoria and Sparta respectively. They ended up being a tale of two age groups. At the Central Zone, Perennial Senior Vet All-American Mike Westjohn showed everyone how to shoot. Mike won the Singles, Doubles and High All Around. Doug Valerio won the Handicap to keep Mike from making a clean sweep of it. At the Southern Zone, youth was served as the crack Junior shooters took over the shoot. Landon Sievers won the Singles, Steve Margherio won the Doubles and Wyatt Williams won the High All Around. Only Vet Donn Thetford prevented them from making a sweep of it.
By the time you read this the new High Average awards will have been handed out at the Illinois State Shoot. As a reminder, this is a new award for shooters who are not All-Americans or All-Staters but have carried a high average in one or more of the disciplines. The winners are as follows.
SINGLES HANDICAP DOUBLES
1. Justin Dewitt 1. Randy Miller 1. Brady Cox
2. Randy Miller 2. Wyatt Williams 2. Tim Marucco
3. Brady Cox 3. Jarryn Smith 3. Ken Mitchell
4. Ronnie Fearheiley 4. Joshua Taylor 4. Chris Deterding
5. Hayden Hemrich 5. Derek Beckman 5. Justin Dewitt
6. Wyatt Williams 6. Ty Deterding 6. Cole Gordon
7. Cole Gordon 7. Tyler Gordon 7. Matthew Byrns
8. Tal Segar 8. Chris Deterding 8. Tal Segar
9. Chloe Turasky 9. Matthew Byrns 9. Lynn Hamlin
10. Tim Marucco 10. Jim Lyons 10. Randy Miller
It is now time to talk about the Illinois State Shoot. The AIM part of the shoot was on June 11 and 12 and let me tell you the kids showed up to shoot. I, and other workers, were handing out 100 straight patches and 27 yard pins like they were jelly beans. It is amazing the quality of young shooters we have in Illinois. If I tried to list you all I would forget people and I don't want to do that. So I am giving a blanket congratulations to all who achieved milestones during the shoot. The winners are as follows, in Singles, Brady Cox is the Men's winner and Jayce Wellen is the Women's winner. Landon Dent won the Men's Doubles and Ashleigh Painter won the Women's Doubles. Garrett Jackson won the Men's Handicap and Olivia Rainey won the Women's Handicap. Finally, Steve Margherio won the Men's HAA and Ashleigh Painter won the Women's HAA.
Now for the State Shoot. The word for the week was HOT, both in scores and temperatures. The shooters and the workers did a fantastic job dealing with the extreme heat and to my knowledge no one ended up getting sick on the line. A storm blew through Friday and knocked power out for a few hours. The power company quickly got us back on line and we only lost an hour of shooting time. The storm also lowered the temperatures and the Championship targets were very pleasant to shoot. The winners were Chase Horton - Singles, Cole Gordon - Doubles, Leroy Jording Jr - Handicap, Chase Horton HAA and Terry O'Brien HOA. Good shooting all of you. Mike Walker and Mike Westjohn were inducted into the Illinois Hall of Fame. This is a well deserved honor for both these men. Congratulations to both of you. Last, but not least, Leland Hassler received his 500,000 combined targets certificate from the ATA. If you have ever watched Leland pound away at Doubles targets you would know how he reached this incredible milestone.
Finally, I want to give a big thank you to the Mohr family and the Illinois Board of Directors. I missed the weekend because I tested positive for Covid and was sheltering at home. The fact that no one missed me shows what a good job they did. When you work with good people it shows at all the right times. I'll see you on the firing line.
Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate