Demons Trap Shooters Win Second SCTP National Title!
July 20, 2013 – World Shooting and Recreation Complex, Sparta, IL – The Scholastic Clay Target Program National Championships is a six-day long event held annually to determine the best youth shotgun athletes in the country. Two years ago the Burlington High School Demons Shooting Team did what many thought was a near impossible feat by winning the overall 2011 SCTP National Championship. No High School-based team had ever posted the top score in the nation against larger 4H, county, club sponsored and state DNR-based teams. In 2012 the Demons varsity came up three targets short of repeating as overall champions, bringing home the honor of top High School in the nation.
Forty-seven Burlington area youth made the 400-mile journey to the worlds largest shooting facility for this year’s tournament. For the four seniors and one sophomore on the Demons Varsity No. 1 squad coming home from Sparta this year with anything less than a gold medal was not an option and they proved it on Friday morning posting a squad score of 493 of 500 to take a two-bird advantage over the Richland Trap Team from Giles County, TN. Five other teams were within six targets on day one.
Cody Schilz ran 100-straight to lead the Demons with 99 from Alexa McCarthy and 98’s from Jordan Hintz, Myles Walker and Christian Jensen. On the third round all five shooters posted perfect scores of 25, a rare feat in any trap shooting event to go along with 122 and 123 the first two rounds and finishing with another 123.
On Saturday, the team led by first-year head coach Chet Tuinstra had to wait until 11:45 to take their turn and with strong storms predicted for the afternoon, the young shooters had plenty on their minds before heading back to the line for the final day of competition. The first round started with a 121 and the Demons knew they needed to bear down, coming back with 124 the second round and 123 the third. With absolute precision, the Demons finished the final round with another perfect 125 giving them a second 493 score and a total of 986 for the two-day event.
Saving his best round of the year for last, Hintz ran all 100 to finish at 198, Schilz missed just one target to end at 199, Jensen and McCarthy at 197 and Walker at 195 totaling 986 of 1,000, seven targets better than their 2011 Championship winning score. The team would have to wait for the rest of the scores to be posted. High winds and heavy rains delayed the tie-breaking shoot-offs needed to finalize the scoring and the severe weather forced the awards ceremony to be held indoors at the WSRC Event Center rather than the spacious grandstands.
Once all the shoot-offs were completed and scores tallied the Demons were handed their second SCTP National Trap Championship in three years finishing four targets ahead of Richland Trap Team and eleven ahead of the Gateway Claybusters of Missouri capping an incredible run for the seniors on the team.
The Demons Intermediate Advanced (grades 5 to 8) team of Cody McCarthy 194, Ethan Jenson 190, Hunter Conrad 189, Weston Uhlenhake 188 and Cullen Kruser 182 tallied 943 targets to win the silver medal behind the Brittany Youth Shooting Group from IL. Adding to the excitement of the weekend was the Intermediate team also posted a perfect 125 round on Saturday 10-minutes prior to the Varsity shooting a perfect round just a hundred yards away. The team was in sixth place after the first day and shot an impressive 489 on the second day with Kruser breaking his first-ever 100-straight to move up to second place.
Proving the Demons are more than just trap shooters; Hintz, Schilz and Walker won the High School Championship in the Sporting Clays portion of the event breaking 540 of 600 targets; then winning a shoot-off against the Brophy Broncos of Arizona for the gold. The trio also finished eighth in the Skeet event breaking 557 of 600 targets with Myles Walker running 100-straight on the opening day of the tournament.
The consistently great scores from throughout the week gave the Demons the High Over All award for the Championship. The results use the totals from the top-three skeet and sporting clays scores plus the top-five trap scores.
BHS graduates Ethan Kerr (198) including 100-straight on Friday and Jenna Ebbers (192) both won silver medals in the men’s and women’s Collegiate Division. Alexa McCarthy (197) earned the bronze in ladies trap while Hunter Conrad placed fourth in Intermediate Advance Sporting Clays (180) and was runner up (549) for High Over All in Intermediate Advanced.
Demon Ali Knight had an exciting evening on Friday winning a CZ-USA 12ga shotgun and custom Americase gun case by winning “The Last Competitor Standing” event. Knight outlasted nearly 500 athletes and won the sudden death shoot-off against the boy’s winner to cheers of the large crowd in attendance.
It was a very special week for coach Tuinstra who welcomed his first grandchild into the world while the team was in Sparta. “It’s been a fantastic week thanks to my daughter, my wife and my new grandson, not to mention some very talented young athletes, great coaches and supportive parents. This is a great group of seniors and I wish them all the best as they move on in life.”
2013 will end a storied chapter for the BHS Demons Shooting team for seven seniors; Brent DeBruine, Terry Carr, Jordan Hintz, Christian Jensen, Gunnar Knight, Cody Schilz and Myles Walker who have all been part in the recent success of the team. Four of the young athletes will be attending college on shooting scholarships including Hintz (Hillsdale College), Walker (Lindenwood University), Carr and Schilz (Bethel College) where they will be using their talents with a shotgun to better themselves for the future.
Five members of the BHS Demons Shooting Team; Hintz, Jensen, Walker, Alexa and Cody McCarthy will compete at the SCTP International Championships; which are run concurrently with the USA Shooting National Championships from July 24th to 31st at the United State Olympic Shooting Range at Ft Carson, CO. The Demons shooters will compete in bunker trap and double trap events.
For more information on the Burlington High School Demons Shooting Team visit www.bhsdemonstrap.com or on the Scholastic Clay Target Program visit www.sssfonline.com