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Shooting sports have seen phenomenal
growth over the past several years with 8,300 youth
participating in 2006. This growth is attributed to the
efforts of the Scholastic Clay Target Program, state
wildlife agencies, firearms industry sponsors and a growing
reputation as one of the safest scholastic sports in the
country. The Tennessee Scholastic Clay Target Program is a
program of the Tennessee Wildlife Federation in cooperation
with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.
Before being registered on a team, each
student must successfully complete the Tennessee Wildlife
Resources Agency’s hunter education class which teaches
shooting fundamentals and firearm safety.They must agree to
abide by the academic and physical fitness guidelines of the
Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association. The sport
is sanctioned by the American Trap shooting Association and
supported by the Friends of the National Rifle Association.
The discipline required by shooting sports builds students’
confidence and improves their focus and concentration, which
carries over to the classroom. The ultimate goal of
involving young people in shooting sports is to instill in
them a commitment to safe firearm handling, teamwork and
leadership.
Thanks to the efforts of Bill Cox of
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission and State
Representative Ron Lollar (also of the Shelby County School
Board) a trap program broke onto the scene throughout the
Shelby County School system in the fall of 2005. Arlington
High School’s Kurt Simons quickly mustered his resources
and launched the inaugural “Arlington Trappers” trap
shooting team. None of the original participants knew much
about trap shooting and most of the students came to their
first practices with a field gun. Though naive, that first
team had talent and the drive to become the best they could
be.
Less than five months after their first
practice, the Arlington Trappers roared to a third place
finish at the SCTP Tennessee State Championship. From a
statewide pool of 1,564 shooters in five divisions only 532
qualified to compete at the state level. Twenty six Senior
Novice squads, each made up of five shooters, shot it out at
the June 24 and 25, 2006 meet in Nashville at the Tennessee
Clay Target Complex. Leading the way for the Trappers’ team
were, Matt Holt, Matt Eley, and Keaton Irving who took the
high individual scores with each shooting 190 out of a
possible 200 targets. Matt Holt, Matt Eley, Curtis Robinson,
Matt Segerson, Cody Cochran, Taylor Garrison, and Keaton
Irving had 25-straight runs while Curtis Robinson broke 50
in a row. The two squads’ remarkable performance qualified
them to advance two squads to the Scholastic Clay Target
Program National Championship in Sparta, Ill., that August.
More than 1,600 youth trap shooters from
26 states converged on the new $50 million, 1,500-acre World
Shooting and Recreational Complex in Sparta, Ill., for the
SCTP nationals held during the Grand American World
Trapshooting Championship. The competition was the largest
in SCTP's six-year history…and Arlington High School was
there! With four top-three teams, Tennessee had the
competition's highest medal count, claiming the national
championship in the rookie division and placing third in the
rookie, junior novice and senior novice divisions. Arlington
High School Trappers Senior Novice first squad scored a 940
of 1000 targets, just seven off of first place to tie for
third with Shelbyville Central High School, also from
Tennessee. Since both teams were absent for the deciding
shoot-off, third place was awarded to Shelbyville Central
through a coin toss, officially placing Arlington in fourth.
The Arlington first squad was made up of Matthew Holt,
Matthew Eley, Andrew Reed, Curtis Robinson, and Matt
Segerson. Alternate Matt Lollar busted 188 targets out of
200. Impressively, Arlington’s second squad also saw a top
ten finish, scoring 933 to place ninth. Shooting on the
second squad were Brandon Barker, Cody Cochran, Keaton
Irving, Taylor Garrison and Johnny Newman. Alternate Eric
Bence shot 178.
The AHS squads enjoyed the highest scores
in their team’s history at the Grand, dramatically improving
their Tennessee State Competition scores of 924 and 871
respectively. Several on the team shot exceptionally well;
Johnny Newman busted 75 in a row, Taylor Garrison and Johnny
Newman broke straight 50’s and ten of the twelve team
members hit straight 25’s over the two days’ competition.
Matt Holt snagged the high score of the team with a 195.
Coach Kurt Simons echoed the sentiments of many who
followed the team’s progress, “No one expected us to make it
to state, let alone for us to compete so well at the
national level…I couldn’t be more proud of these boys.”
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Arlington High Trappers
