BHS shooting team bags another national title
By Jennifer Eisenbart
Staff Writer
For five years, the Burlington High School trapshooting team tried to make a name for itself – as national champions – at the Scholastic Clay Target Program National Championships in Sparta, Ill.
The last two years, the Demons went out and did it.
Following up last year’s overall and high-school division titles in trapshooting at SCTP Nationals, the Demons came home with three top-three finishes in trapshooting over the weekend – plus the High Overall award, which includes trap, sporting clays and skeet shooting.
The high overall award guaranteed the team doubled the amount that will come to the team’s endowment account through the SCTP.
Overall, coach Denis Sommers was thrilled with the weekend. He knew the team had the potential to shoot well, but it was all a matter of putting it together on the same day.
“I thought it was pretty great,” Sommers said.
In the typical steamy conditions at the World Shooting and Recreation Complex – temperatures were above 90 the entire meet and over 100 the first two days – Burlington still came out on top.
The top varsity squad of Myles Walker (98 of 100 targets hit), Ethan Kerr (99), Christian Jensen (99), Jordan Hintz (95) and Josh Crisamagna (92) tallied 483 the first day, trailing by just one target in the overall and five birds ahead of Arlington High School.
The No. 2 squad of Cody Schilz (first-ever perfect score of 100), Terry Carr (99), Matt Henningfield (93), Devon Stickrod (93) and Mariah Kerr (92) lurked in sixth.
On the second day, the top squad hit 482 of 500 targets, led by another 99 from Ethan Kerr. Crisamagna added a 98, Jensen a 97, Hintz a 96 and Walker a 92.
That mark held up for the high-school title, but Jefferson County Patriot Shooters of Tennessee snuck past to win the overall title by one target over Warren County Claybusters of Pennsylvania and three targets ahead of BHS.
The No. 2 squad shot a 464 to wind up third, with Henningfield hitting 98, followed by Stickrod (96), Carr (95), Schilz (90) and Mariah Kerr (85).
In addition, the JV squad of Alexa McCarthy (194), Daniel Santos (194), Clayton Deford (187), Nolan Schenning (188) and Melanie Uhlenhake (162) finished third.
“I thought it was pretty cool,” said Sommers. “To go down and repeat that … I truly didn’t think we were going to do that.”
The depth of the team is impressive as well.
“We’re only losing about four kids,” the coach explained. “We’ve got a pretty good depth of athletes on the team.
“On any given day, you can flip-flop those top 10 kids.”
Among the four graduates is Ethan Kerr, who will shoot at Lindenwood University next year.
“I have been fortunate to have had a great group of coaches to work with me and help me to become the shooter that I am today,” said Ethan. “Winning a second national title in my final year with the team was a nice way for me to leave.”
But in addition to the results, the successful weekend meant more money to the school’s “account” through the SCTP Midway Foundation.
“It’s accounts that SCTP teams are able to open up and earn money to put into them,” said Tom Wondrash, the North Central Director of Development for the SCTP and former Burlington head coach.
BHS earned more than $20,000 by attending the national shoot, and also for how they finished – $10,000 for winning the High Overall award, $5,000 for the high school trophy, and $2,000 each for the two third-place finishes, plus $3,000 for attending.
The team is able to apply for a 5 percent grant on the balance of the account, but cannot ever use the principal. Over the past few years, through performance endowments and donations, the BHS squad has accumulated more than $230,000 in the account – which Wondrash thinks is among the top five accounts in the program.
For those of you doing the math, that means the grant for next year will be in excess of $10,000.
“That money is used to help offset the cost of tournaments, travel, ammunition, targets,” said Wondrash. “It’s huge. That, I believe, is why we’re seeing the increase in the students. We’re able to keep the costs down for the parents.”
And as most coaches will tell you, numbers and development at the lower levels breeds the kind of success BHS has seen the last two years at the national shoot. In fact, the success is almost becoming “old hat.”
“I’m sure the kids would like to have it every year,” Wondrash said. “We’ll ride the wave as long as we can.”
And draw a little more interest along the way. According to Sommers, he was approached by a pair of college coaches over the weekend.
“(They said) if we had any kids interested in shooting in college to let them know,” Sommers said. “That alone says a lot about the quality of our program.”
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