Hi everyone. I want to introduce you to the 2025 Illinois High Average Award winners. These are men and women who shot high averages in the 3 disciplines but did not make either the All-State team or All-American team. We will begin with Doubles: Sam Gilman 97.09; Brady Cox 94.15; Drake Lawler 93.92; Jacob Fournie 93.3; Justin Dewitt 93.22; Frank Haynes 92.38; Wyatt Baine 92.19; Chris Deterding 91.94; Lucus McVaigh 91.82; John Kravanek 91.62. Handicap: Austin Carlen 92.67; Colton Aguiar 91.82; Brayden Hahn 91.7; Terry Rohlfing 91.69; Adam Stockmeyer 91.68; Micheal Benjamin 91.67; George Baskiniii 91.44; Brenden Mowen 90.77; Koester Cook 90.73; Paul Cusack 90.2. Singles: Justin Dewitt 98.47; Terry O'Brian 97.96; Dawson Hemker 97.5; Austin Carlen 97.07; Tom Fester 97.06; John Upcraft 96.93; Katie Gilbertson 96.79; Patrick Murphy 96.62; Joe Nehrt 96.52; William Wirth 98.41. These men and women will receive their certificates on Friday of the state shoot during the annual meeting.

I have a few milestones that have been reached. At the 25,999 plateau, Steve Dinkleman, Kevin Showalter and Duane Parker, all reached it in Doubles and John Krancanas reached it in Singles.

Shoot well and support your local club.

Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate

I want to introduce you to the 2025 Illinois All-State team: OPEN: Anthony Fortino 94.4; Randy Miller 93.38; Kent Kruse 92.8; Aaron Kortte 92.54; Tim Lewis 91.99; Nathan Simpson 91.91; Jeremiah Schultz 91.5; Joseph Terzo 91.23; William Christensen 90.8; Kevin White 90.7. SUB VETERAN: Brian Cox 93.4; Brad Bomkamp 91.68; Ken Mitchell 91.3; Mark Fielder 91.07; Rodney Johnson 90.8. VETERAN: Brian Hezel 93.48; Dan Staker 93.17; Mike Hathaway 92.9; Matt Nicol 92.14; Harvey Schultz 91.91. SENIOR VETERAN: Mike Westjohn 93.63; Frank Payne 92.88; Mike Dennis 92.06; Ron Wolf 92.05; Mack Webb 91. LADY 1: Lauren Dunn 93.17; Erin Federle 90.01; Brooke Weidner 89.123; Sierra Sparenberg 89.12; Grace Hahn 88.15. LADY 2: Janice Rigler 89.05; Joan Maiden 85.69; Brenda Dennis 81.99; Sue Staker 81.88; Connie Martin 78.4. JUNIOR GOLD: Wyatt Williams 96.72; Steve Margherio 95.92; Landon Sievers 94.86; Jaxon Wilson 92.4; Ryan Lewis 91.74. JUNIOR: Mason Bartlow 96.18; Carson Sievers 93.9; Payton Wottowa 91.84; Aidan Ireland 89.97; Carter White 89.8. SUB JUNIOR: Noah Goeddel 94.26; Myles Arrowsmith 92.82; Linden Rynders 91.51; Colton Schutte 91.09; Adelynn Wottowa 89.38; CHAIR: Larry Norton 87.96. Congratulations to all these men and women on this accomplishment.

I was happy to see that Downers Grove Sportsman's Club celebrated its 75-year anniversary this summer. Downers is a jewel of a club where you can shoot anything related to the shotgun shooting sports. What makes this club special, however, are the people there. They are friendly, helpful and thoughtful when you show up. I have been there many times and never felt like a stranger. Quite the contrary, I felt like I was everyone's best friend. If you find yourself in northeastern Illinois, stop in at Downers, you will not regret it.

On October 11 the ISTA Board of Directors met and elected 2 new members to the Hall of Fame. Janice Rigler and Mike Dennis will both be inducted into the HOF on Tuesday of the Illinois State shoot. Exceptional shots and exceptional people. It always makes me happy to see good people get what they deserve. Congratulations to both of you.

About a month ago I received a phone call from Riley Kaufman asking me to come up to Auburn, Illinois and recertify the Edgewood Gun Club to throw registered birds. Edgewood years ago had a very active registered program, and I shot there many times. Sadly, over the years, the club went through a bunch of bad managers who ran the club down and left it for dead. I drove up there not knowing what to expect and was completely blown away by what I found. Riley and his dad, Jeff, completely redid the 4 trap fields. They have new concrete, lights, trap houses and trap machines. The club house has been expanded and modernized and is a very comfortable place to hang out and visit. In short, this is a first-rate shooting facility now. But the thing that really stuck out for me was the atmosphere of the place. Everyone was happy, everyone was smiling, it was a place where you wanted to be. You need to check out Edgewood. You will not be disappointed. Their hours of operation are Monday and Wednesday 10am to 7pm. S

Bill Duncan,ATA Delegate

I want to start by introducing you to the 2025 ALL-AMERICAN team members from Illinois. They are as follows:

OPEN 2nd Team -- Garrett Helms; LADY 1 2nd Team -- Lauren Dunn; LADY 2 2nd Team -- Janice Rigler; SUB JUNIOR 1st Team -- Noah Goeddel; SUB JUNIOR 2nd Team -- Coltyn Schutte; JUNIOR GOLD 1st Team Captain -- Ian  Lawrence; JUNIOR GOLD 2nd Team - Steve Margherio; VETERAN 1st Team -- Mike Hathaway, Dan Staker, Brian Hezel; VETERAN 2nd Team -- Ron Fearheiley; SENIOR VET 1st Team -- Mike Westjohn, Frank Payne, Mike Dennis; CHAIR SHOOTER -- Larry Norton

Congratulations to all of you.

Over the weekend of September 13 and 14 the Illinois Northern Zone Shoot was held at St. Charles Sportsman's Club. The weather was hot and so were the scores and when the dust settled we had some worthy winners. In Singles, Conrad Davis won the In-Zone Championship and Doug Valerio won Out of Zone. In Doubles, Joe Bohannon won In-Zone and Anthony Fortino won Out of Zone. In Handicap, Conrad Davis won In-Zone and Anthony Fortino won Out of Zone. Finally, in HAA, Wyatt Baine won In-Zone and Anthony Fortino won Out of Zone. Congratulation to all the winners.

I have some milestones that Illinois shooters have reached. At the 25,000 plateau, Chester Tripp reached it in Singles and Danny White and Stanley Crow reached it in Handicap. At the 50,000 plateau, John Upcraft reached it in Singles and Larry Murphy reached it in Handicap. Finally, Mack Webb reached 100,000 combined targets. Congratulations everyone.

Mike Dennis and Mike Westjohn both shot over 20,000 registered targets this past shooting year. My god that's a lot of targets. Way to go both of you.

Sadly, I recently learned we have lost another Illinois shooter. Larry White passed a few weeks ago. Larry was another lynch pin shooter who was a good man and a good shot. You looked forward to seeing him every time you went to the club. I hate it when we lose men like this. Rest well Larry.

I will have the 2025 All-State team in next month's column.

Shoot well and support your local club.

Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate

Hi everyone. The ATA Central Zone Shoot took place from July 25 - July 27. Illinois shooters did well in the classes, yardage groups and categories. Check out Trap and Field Magazine for all the results. We also had 2 big wins. Mason Bartlow won the Singles Championship with a 200 straight and Wyatt Williams won the Doubles Championship with a 100 straight. Congratulations to both of you.

I just got back from the Grand and, as always, it was grand. The numbers of shooters were down a bit, but the scores were out of sight. No big wins for Illinois shooters but we presented ourselves well in the classes, yardage groups and categories. I want to talk about an Illinois shooter who accomplished something notable at the shoot. Adelynn Wottowa, a Sub-Junior shooter, broke her first 100 straight at the Grand. Adelynn is a quiet, unassuming young lady who lets her shooting do her talking. She is also a great young person who is a joy to be around. Congratulations, Adelynn, I am sure this is just the first of many 100's to come.

When you have over 500 Illinois shooters banging away at the Grand for 10 days, you are going to have a lot of milestones being reached. Boy, do we have a boat load of them. So, without further ado, here they are for this month. At the 25,000 plateau, Greg Hogue reached it in Singles, Robert Randell, Thomas McCue, Andrew Verdeyen and Greg Aitken reached it in Handicap and Kevin Morrison and Doug Porter reached it in Doubles. At the 50,000 plateau, Steve Brokow, Alan Maly, Tony Fortino and David Coles reached it in Handicap. At the 75,000 plateau, Denise Dressler reached it in Singles and Lauren Dunn and Brian Cox reached it in Handicap. Finally, at the 100,000 plateau, Brian Bomkamp reached it in Singles, Roland Roesslein reached it in Handicap and Harvey Schultz reached it in combined targets. Way to go guys. Very, very impressive.

Shoot well and support your local club.

Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate