The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) held a 50 target trap shoot on Saturday, January 16, 2016 for youth shooting teams as a qualifying event to attend the South Carolina State Trap Championship to be held on February 12, 2016. As the sport of target shooting is growing nationwide and in the State of South Carolina, there are too many teams in the state for all to attend a one day championship event. Therefore, teams must qualify at preliminary events to attend the state championship competition. The qualifying event consisted of 2 rounds of trap for each shooter. In each round the participant shoots from 5 different stations at 5 separate targets for a total of 25 targets which are thrown at random angles. The shooter never knows at what angle the target will be thrown. All targets are thrown from a trap 16 yards in front of the shooter.
Even the preliminary event did not provide enough space for all the youth wanting to participate. Dillon County 4-H was only able to have 2 three man squads attend the event which meant that about half of the team did not get to compete. Other local teams, Pee Dee Academy had 2 squads to attend and Dillon Christian School was not able to have any team members compete. One of the Dillon County 4-H squads had to shoot on Friday as the Saturday event was completely filled. In an effort to give an opportunity to all competitors, the SCDNR provided Friday afternoon rotations to increase participation to try to qualify for the State Championship.
The competition was divided into two classes, Schools and Clubs. The School class is open to any school including private, public and home schools. The club class is open to any organized club including 4-H, Boy Scouts, gun clubs, church groups, gun clubs or other organized clubs. In these 2 classes, the squads are further divided into 5 divisions. The divisions are the Sr. division for 11th and 12 graders. The Jr division is for 9th and 10th graders. The Intermediate division is for 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. There are also Ladies squads in both Classes and they are divided into 2 divisions by grade.
The Dillon County 4-H Sr. squad consisting of Cole Anders, Myers Hamer and Walker Brumble had the highest score of all classes and divisions. They broke 131 targets out of 150. Brumble had the highest score (HOA) of the entire event breaking 47 out of 50 targets. In one of his rounds he broke all 25 targets and was awarded a 25 straight patch to recognize the perfect round. Hamer came in 2nd of all shooters in the division breaking 45 targets out of 50. Anders broke 39 out of 50.
Dillon County 4-H also had an intermediate squad compete with team members, Zack Arrington, Gately Bethea, and Justin Herring. Bethea led the squad shooting 33 targets. Arrington had 31 and Herring broke 23 for a team score of 87. This was just 2 birds short of making the cut off to return for the Intermediate State Trap Championship.
The Pee Dee Academy team won 1st place in the new school class.
This is a special award for the highest score of all the teams which are competing for the first year. Pee Dee Academy had a team several years ago but discontinued the team when they could not find a coach. George Smith has stepped in as head coach and the team is competing in the school class again.
The Pee Dee Academy squad of Justin White, Jason Person, and Bree Ammons made the cut to return to the State Championship in the Sr. School Division.
As a result of the qualifying event, the Dillon County 4-H Sr. squad will be the #1 seed in the State Championship event which will be held at the Palmetto Shooting Complex in Edgefield, SC on Friday February 12. This same squad will also be competing for the State skeet championship on Saturday February 13.
