The Branson High School Trap Shooting Team follow-up their National Championship in 2009 with a Second Place finish at Nationals this year in Sparta, Illinois.

Information below submited by Tad Houston:

The Branson High School Trap team has just returned from the Scholastic Clay Target Program’s National Championships at the World Shooting Complex in Sparta, IL. There they competed against almost 1200 other High School and Junior High shooters from around the country in a two-day event, July 23^rd and 24^th.

SCTP is managed by the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation (SSSF) in partnership with USA Shooting (US Olympic Team) and other governing bodies for shooting sports and reported participation in the 2009/2010 season of some 5,200+ student competitors in 36 states. This year’s SCTP Trap competition saw an increase in participants of over 30% compared to 2009!

Branson High School qualified four teams for the National Championships after the Varsity squad was the Missouri State Champion at the Missouri SCTP Championships in June. The Junior Varsity, Junior High Advanced and Junior High Novice teams were Runner Up in their divisions, with the top three teams in each division qualifying. Branson came into the event as defending National Champions in the High School Division.

The Branson Varsity squad of Cory Houston, Jake McSpadden, Bryce Haffecke, Logan Ashlock and Dalton Lambert tied last year’s team score that won the High School Division National Championship with a 956/1000. This year however it was bested by the team from Arlington, TN that finished second to Branson last year.

The weather was as you would expect for midsummer, with heat indexes near 120 and shade was at a premium. The team had a rough day on Friday but rebounded on Saturday to move past seven other teams into second.  

The Junior Varsity squad of, Chase Mathes, Mitchell Armstrong, Daniel Bergland, Josh Ong and Will Cooper combined for a 909/1000 for a 12^th place finish.

The Branson Junior High Advanced squad of Matthew Cesar, Jack Brazeal, Billy Duree, RJ Kirkland and Joe Mize shot 906/1000 for a Top Ten performance with 7^th place.

The Junior High Novice squad of Chloe Hale, Laine Ashlock, Zack Cesar, Hunter O’Neil and Brett Mitrenga combined for an 840/1000 which put them just out of the Top Ten in 11^th Place.

In addition, Phillip Stearns, Riley Moore and Jon Spurgeon participated individually as alternates for the team.

Many of the kids shot personal bests and with all four squads finishing 12^th or better it was a very good outing. The Team has one more major event left in this shooting year. They will be back at the World Shooting Complex the weekend of August 7^th and 8^th for the AIM Program National Championships, part of the Amateur Trap Shooting Associations “Grand American”. The “Grand” is considered the World Championship of American Trapshooting.

Coach Mark McSpadden would like to thank their home club, Ozark Shooters as well as the many individuals and businesses that have supported the team and helped them get to both of these National Championships.

The team web site is http://bransontrap.bravehost.com/