Last week nine local shooters from the Newberry 4-H Shotgun Team along with thousands of other competitors from all over the US traveled to The World Shooting Complex in Sparta Illinois for the National SCTP Shotgun Championship. During the four day competition they competed in sporting clays, trap and skeet . They were able to win top honors in both sporting clays and skeet.
The team members, Kody Brown, Dillon Mann, Austin Bartley, Kenny Nicholson, Jody Perry, Justin Hawkins, Patrick Mills, Michael Shaw, and Camron Hawkins along with their coaches Stanley Mills, Paula Mills, Sandra Brown, and Keith Bartley traveled to Sparta for their first National Championship. There they were able to experience a level of competition they had never seen before. They were also able to meet World Class Shooters and Olympic Gold Medalists in shotgun.
All of the Newberry 4-H Shotgun team members performed admirably by shooting their career high scores. The Rookie Squad of Patrick Mills, Michael Shaw, and Camron Hawkins were able to win first place and take the National Championship in both sporting clays and skeet. Patrick Mills was able to take the high over all title in his division; with his teammate Michael Shaw in a close second position and Camron finished sixth overall in the Rookie division. The JV squad of Kody Brown, Austin Bartley and Dillon Mann finished a strong seventh place in sporting clays with the other JV squad of Kenny Nicholson, Jody Perry, and Justin Hawkins finishing in a very respectable thirteenth position. The trap team of Kody Brown, Austin Bartley, Jody Perry, Kenny Nicholson, and Justin Hawkins finished with a strong 877 which was only 69 clays out of first. This is an outstanding team performance for their first national competition against the number and caliber of the competitors in attendance.
Newberry County has a very strong youth shooting program. The Newberry 4-H Shotgun Team currently has 24 shooters and six coaches. Not all of the coaches or shooters could go to Sparta, but they were all there in spirit with their teammates. Ben Blanton is the head 4-H shotgun coach but he is also the coach for the Newberry Junior Pistol club and the week before he took five members of the shotgun team who are also on the Newberry Junior Pistol Team to Camp Perry Ohio to compete in The US Junior Olympic Progressive Position Pistol Championship where they won the Mixed Team Gold. Newberry Junior Shooters have brought home three National Championships in the last two weeks. Ben is extremely proud of all his shooters and coaches for the hard work they have put forth and their fantastic accomplishments.
All of the team members and coaches would like to thank their families and friends who supported them and made it possible for them to go. They would also like to thank Mr. Kenny Inman of Inman's Gun Club for his help and the use of his trap facility and his expert tutelage in trap, and Mr. Al Morrison of Triangle Gun Club for his expert tutelage in skeet and use of his skeet facilities. We would also like to give a big thanks to Rocky Knoll Sporting Clays of Abbeville for the use of their facilities and their coaching assistance. We need to thank the SC youth Shooting Foundation, SC DNR, and MR Rick Wiley, the SC 4-H State Shooting Director, for their support on the State and National level. We would also like to thank The Friends OF NRA and The Gun Owners of SC, whose generous financial grants made the program possible. Last but not least we need to give a very special thanks to Stanley and Paula Mills for their coaching and especially to Stanley for building a five stand practice range in his back yard for the kids to practice on.
