Hello, shooters! We had a huge jump in attendance this year for the high school league. There were over 500 shooters, and we had about 380 people attending the state shoot (last year we had about 170). There was a little bit of a storm at one point, but that didn't stop the shooters from excelling. There are many schools looking into joining for this coming year as well, so we're looking forward to it jumping in size again. It's a great program that gets more shooters involved in the sport and it lets them letter in their high school as well. If you are interested in getting your high school involved, go to usaclaytarget.com for more information.
The U.S. Open was up 27% this year. I wasn't able to attend because it was the same weekend as the high school league state shoot, but I was watching scores and there were some big ones. Illinois was well represented on the trophy list.
We also had a big storm come through for the AIM State Shoot. There were 294 shooters who participated this year (about 40 more than last year), and everyone got to register only 100 targets due to weather. Gavin Rynders and Britta Moyer each broke their first 100 straights. The singles champion after shootoff was Kyle Blankenship with 100. The doubles champion was Noah Nolen with 98. The handicap champion, with his first-ever 100 straight, was Logan Hawkins. The high-over-all champion was Nolen with 290.
For the ISTA State Shoot, several highlights occurred throughout the week: for Friday's handicap, we had 51 people on our punch list. A couple people made it to the 27 for the first time: Kyle Blankenship and Hannah Martin. Hannah also wowed the crowd by not missing a singles target the entire week, including her first 200 straight on championship day. She went on to be the first lady to win the singles championship over the field. What a feat! Dale Miller broke his first 200 straight in the Singles Championship as well. Josh Taylor broke his first 200 straight, which completed his ATA Grand Slam. Habe (father) and Bubba (son) Darr came to the state shoot for the first time, and Habe broke his first ever 100 straight on the squad right next to Bubba, who broke his first 200 straight. Rodney Johnson had his first 100 straight at the state shoot. Alex York broke his first 100 in doubles. Joan Davis got her first 50 straight ever. Kelly Kinder fired at his 300,000th combined registered target.
Mike Walker recently registered his 300,000th singles target and Regan Armbrust her 25,000th singles.
Doubles champion was Chase Horton with 99. The handicap was won by Dan Staker with 99. Dan also won the all-around with 396. Dave Dressler was high-over-all champion with 1,162.
Just a reminder: if you won a category trophy in the Singles Championship, be sure to shoot at the Grand in the Champion of Champions event. If you are not able to participate, let me know (
Lauren Mueller
ATA Delegate
Hey shooters!
The 2018 Illinois Central Zone shoot was held at Peoria Skeet and Trap Club on May 12 & 13 in order not to coincide with the US Open. After a rainy start to Saturday, the singles event was down 38 shooters with 86 taking the line. Even a short rain delay couldn't deter Dave Dressler from finishing on top with a 197. Sunday's weather was much better with a cloudy morning giving way to a very sunny Mother's Day. All ladies present were given a rose as a Thank You for attending on THEIR day! The doubles event was down 30 shooters from 2016 with only 47 participants. Dan Roberts took top honors with a 96. Handicap was also down with only 79 shooters. Rick Liggett turned in a 98 from the 18.5 yard line to take the Champion honors. HOA was won by Dan Roberts with Leland Hassler taking Out of Zone honors.
The 2018 IL Southern Zone Shoot was held at Brittany Shooting Park on May 26 & 27. The weather was beautiful! A little on the warm side, but much better than the weather we've had for the last few months. There was one storm that we thought would make its way in, but we lucked out and it remained just north of us. There were 126 entries for the singles, 72 for the doubles and 81 for the handicap. There were 3 199s on Saturday - Lauren Mueller, Mike Jordan and Mike Hathaway. Mueller came out on top after two rounds in the shoot off. Mueller also was the lone 99 on Sunday's doubles for the Champion honors. On the handicap, Brady Cox broke his first 100 straight ever! Quite the accomplishment, especially on one of the toughest events! Mueller won Champion for the HAA in zone and Tal Seger took Out of Zone Champ.
There are a couple other honorable mentions - Elise Baker broke a 98 from the 25.5 yard line in Linn Creek for the Handicap Championship to make it to the 27 yard line! She then proceded to go to the Great Lakes Grand in Michigan and broke another 98 to claim Champion of the event the following week. Ian Lawrence had a great show up there as well - he was tied for HOA Champion and Singles Champion! Chloe Turasky broke 100 in handicap from the 19 yard line and won Champion at Menard County Sportsman Club. Everyone keep up the awesome shooting and I'll see you either at the ATA Central Zone Shoot July 26-29 or in Sparta for the Grand!
Lauren Mueller
ATA Delegate
Hello shooters!
It's State Shoot time! Last year, we had several shooters make it to the 27 for the first time, gave out several 100 straight pins for the first time someone broke 100 at our State Shoot, and numerous people were telling me they had shot the best scores they had for a while. Let's keep that tradition going! I've checked trophy lists from a few of the bigger shoots this year and some of you have been on fire. Thanks again for representing the State of Illinois across the map and reminding them that we have some of the toughest shooters in the country!
If you haven't gotten a chance yet, be sure to check out the improved website (illinoistrapshooters.org)! The board has been working on tweaking and finding the best way to disseminate information. Look for some changes in the near future! You can also find the monthly delegate report on there as well. If you haven't yet, you can "like" the ISTA page on Facebook with the tag @IllinoisTrapshooters and get some more information there. Also, the Illinois Hall of Fame is now a 501c3. They are still looking for funds to help build the building. It will be built onto the west side of the ISTA building. If you would like to make a donation, contact any of the directors. Every bit helps!
Hope to write your name in the next article when I mention the champions! Good luck shooters!
Lauren Mueller
ATA Delegate
Hello shooters!
There's a lot coming up! Hope you've been getting ready for everything coming at ya!
Don't forget - to make the state team, you have to shoot in one of the IL Zone shoots. The Central Zone shoot is in Peoria and the Southern Zone shoot is in Bunker Hill in May. Be sure to get out and shoot one to qualify! There were a lot more people that qualified this past year compared to the one before and I hope to see that trend continue!
The state shoot is coming up quickly now. Can't wait to see you all again! If you want the same camping spot from last year, be sure to let me know by May 1. I have received a lot of emails from people so far, which is great. Don't want anyone to miss out! To reserve from last year or to save one for this year, my email is
There was a great turnout of IL shooters at the Spring Grand in Tucson, AZ - 33 shooters! I was keeping up with the IL names on the leader boards as well. Some names I saw a few times - Ian Lawrence, Mike Westjohn, Chase Horton, Drew Strohecker, Alex York, Bill Lawrence, Dan and Sue Staker, Ken Rigler, Dale Miller, Brian Frost, Charlie Bickle and Ken Rogowski. Great job representing our state down there!
Lauren Mueller
ATA Delegate
Hello shooters!
Hopefully by now you’ve all swept the dust off your gun and have taken advantage of the weather to send a few rounds down range. Shooting season will be in full swing before you know it!
I’ve had several texts and emails asking about dates for state shoots this year. June is a busy month for it! The Illinois State High School Clay Target League has their state shoot June 2nd and 3rd. They have 2 days this year because of how fast word is spreading and the amount of teams has increased drastically. We don’t have a number yet for how many, but from word of mouth, sounds like it’s going to be boomin’! The AIM State shoot will be June 9th (200 Singles) and 10th (100 doubles, 100 handicap).
The ISTA State Shoot will be June 11-17. We have changed the program a bit this year! Instead of doing 200 singles on Thursday, we are knocking the Class Singles to 100 targets and adding 100 doubles. Be sure to let me know if you do or don’t like the change in the program.
Something else that will be changing is our website. It isn’t complete yet, but it is getting close! The old website wasn’t mobile friendly, so we have changed that. We also plan on updating more, adding new spotlights and making it overall more user friendly. I will share the link for that as soon as it is complete!
Don’t forget to catch an IL Zone shoot this year to qualify for the state team. You do have to shoot the 200 singles, 100 doubles and 100 handicap at any of the 3 zones to qualify, as well as the HAA 200 singles, 100 doubles and 100 handicap at the IL State Shoot. There was a big jump in participation from the first year I figured the teams to the second, and I hope to see that continue! Competition is what keeps the sport rollin’!
Hope to see you all soon!
Lauren Mueller
ATA Delegate