BHS Demons Crowned 2011 SCTP National Champions! World Shooting and Recreation Complex, Sparta, IL -- July 16, 2011 In what might be considered a "David vs. Goliath" story the Burlington High School Demons Varsity Trapshooting Team won the 2011 Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) National Championship by breaking 979x1000 targets. Hailing from a town of 10,000 in Southeastern Wisconsin, the school-based team defeated many larger Clubs, 4H, County, and Fish & Game (DNR) managed programs to earn the gold medal and top spot on the podium.
The BHS Demons Trapshooting team is hosted by the Burlington Conservation Club and is supported by Burlington High School as a letter-earning club sport. They defeated 72 Varsity (grade 9-12) teams comprised of nearly 520 young athletes from all across the United States to earn the title.
2011 SCTP rules allowed all members of the team to compete and the top five scores were used to determine the overall team score. This scoring formula made the victory even more impressive as the Demons score of 979 was all shot by a single squad comprised of Sophomores Jordan Hintz (197), Christian Jensen (196), and Myles Walker (196), Junior Ethan Kerr (196), and Senior Adam Tuinstra (194) who set the pace for the two-day tournament.
During the first 100 targets on Friday, the Burlington team had rounds of 120, 123, 124 and 122 to finish with a three-bird advantage over the Gateway Claybusters of Missouri. Hintz and Jensen each tallied 99 to lead the way.
In ninety-plus degree heat, the team came back on Saturday afternoon with an impressive score of 490 with rounds of 123, 121, 125, and 121 to seal the victory. The third round was met with a loud roar of cheers from the gallery of teammates, parents and supporters that had gathered to encourage the team that had travelled nearly 400-miles to compete in the National finals.
Enjoying the blue ribbons around his neck, Kerr was impressed with his teammates for their special round on Saturday, "Even though we are National Champions, my highlight of the weekend was our 125. That was spectacular!"
Adding to the excitement of the afternoon was Walker's first-ever perfect round of 100-straight to help seal the victory. Proud father Wes celebrated by hugging nearly the entire crowd one-by-one after the round.
The final tally showed the Demons six birds ahead of Gateway and a seven-bird advantage over the Henry County No-Fly Zone team from Tennessee.
"These kids have no idea how proud I am of them," said Tom Wondrash, former Demons head coach and now the North Central Director for the SCTP. "We built this program up over seven years and I knew this was a special group of kids?..and that this National Championship would be brought to Wisconsin very soon! This is the very first National Championship award brought to the state of Wisconsin and it has the Demons name all over it!"
First-year head coach Denis Sommers had a hunch something big was in the works this season. "I told the kids this was our year, they showed great poise and handled themselves perfectly all weekend."
It was the final High School event for Tuinstra who will soon depart to serve his country in the Marines.
Another interesting note is all five of the Demon shooters used Browning shotguns in the tournament, "I would like to thank Browning for making the best trap gun in the world, the BT-99," said a smiling Jensen. "Because without my baby I would not have been able to be on a National Championship team."
The weekend was rewarding for Hintz who had to choose to shoot with his classmates at Sparta or stay home to participate in the Wisconsin Trapshooting Association State Shoot. By missing the event in Waukesha, he gave up a probable spot to repeat on the WTA All-State Junior Team. Both events were scheduled at the same time and shooting the Championship events at the State Shoot is a requirement for All-State recognition. "It was worth it," the sophomore said. "We came with the goal of winning the award for the top high school team and it would have been worth missing State just for that. I can't believe we beat every High School, 4H, Club team and the State of Arizona (State DNR-supported program) to win,? he said with a chuckle.
For his score of 197, Hintz was named to the NRA All-Scholastic second team (awarded to the top-20 high school shooters in the country.) Kerr, Jensen and Walker earned honorable mention for breaking 196 targets.
All members of the BHS Varsity team will be awarded gold medals for their participation in the event including Matt Henningfield, Josh Criscimagna, Gunnar Knight, Cody Schilz, Devon Stickrod, Becca Alby, Jenna Ebbers, Brent DeBruine, Hunter Wondrash, Terry Carr, Ryan Schweiger and John Kaminskis.
All told, thirty-four young athletes from Burlington traveled to southern Illinois to compete in the SCTP Nationals; In addition to Varsity, the Demons had squads participate in three other divisions. The Junior Varsity team of Conor Schultz, Alex Fennig, Cody Joerndt, Anna Sommers and Mariah Kerr finishing fifteenth with a score of 875. In Intermediate (grades 5-8) Advanced, the team of Alexa McCarthy, Nolan Schenning, Melanie Uhlenhake, Clayton DeFord and Ali Knight finished fourteenth with a score of 820. Shooting very well was the Intermediate Entry team of Hunter Conrad, Cody McCarthy, Jarod Hahn, Cullen Kruser and Ethan Jensen who almost made the podium with a fourth place finish breaking 880 targets, just six birds away from a medal position.
Burlington?s lone individual award went to Hunter Conrad who won third place in the Intermediate Entry division with a score of 188x200 taking the bronze after a shoot-off in front of a large crowd Saturday evening.
Cody Joerndt, Ethan Jensen and Hunter Conrad each won Lewis awards during the event.
The Demons also competed in the Sporting Clays and Skeet Championships the highest finishing position was the Intermediate Entry team of Cody McCarthy, Hunter Conrad and Weston Uhlenhake finishing seventh in the Skeet Championships with a score of 418 of 600.
Next week, ten of the Burlington shooters will travel to Colorado Springs, CO to compete in the SCTP International Trap/Skeet Finals, which will be held at the United States Olympic Training Center. They will compete against nearly 100 other athletes in Olympic-style bunker trap.
The website of the Burlington High School Demons Trapshooting team is:
www.bhsdemonstrap.com2011 SCTP National Champions. Left to right: Coach Chet Tuinstra, Senior Adam Tuinstra (194), Sophomore Jordan Hintz (197), Sophomore Christian Jensen (196), Coach/SCTP North Central Director Tom Wondrash, Sophomore Myles Walker (196), Coach Joe Ebbers, Junior Ethan Kerr (196), Head Coach Denis Sommers, Coach Jeff Kojis.
About the 2010-2011 SCTP National Team Championships
The 2010-2011 SCTP American Style National Team Championships were held July 13-16 at The World Shooting and Recreation Complex located in Sparta, Illinois where junior shooters from all over the nation competed for both team and individual honors in trap, skeet and sporting clays.
130 Teams with 1,569 Individual participants competed this year - 6% increase over last year.
2,220 Total Entries - 16% increase over last year.
1,152 Trap participants, 455 Skeet participants - 22% increase over last year and 463 Sporting Clay participants - 21% increase over last year.
There were 1388 Male competitors and 181 Female competitors.
With 7,688 athletes from 44 different states competing in its program this year, SCTP is the largest National Youth Shot Gun Program shooting all five of the major disciplines.
The Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation exists to raise funding and other resources for Youth Development Programs in the shooting sports industry.
SCTP is a youth development program where adult coaches and volunteers model sportsmanship, responsibility, honesty, ethics, integrity, and team work while using shooting sports programs to teach these and other positive life skills to SCTP athletes. To learn more visit the SCTP website at:
www.ShootSCTP.org.
Complete scores from the event are available online at:
http://www.shooterspost.com/SCTP/PUBLIC/index
