Special to GUIDON

More than 75,000 shots rang out from the Missouri Trap Shooters Association home grounds at 51 Trapshooters Road in Linn Creek, Mo., April 28 during the 25th annual Missouri FFA and High School Trap Championship. More than 750 students from all over the state participated in the event.

The Missouri Department of Conservation cosponsors the championship and more than 40 staff helped with scoring at the event.

“The weather turned out to be nice day so we saw several very high scores,” said Eric Edwards, the MDC Education Outreach coordinator who helped with scoring.

“We even had to have a shoot off to decide placement in some divisions because of all the 99- and 98-out-of-100 scores,” Edwards added.

The overall high score went to Austin Harris of Gateway-Clay-Busters from Defiance with a perfect score of 100 out of 100. Top honors for Ladies division went to Samantha Foppe of Team Henges from High Ridge with a score of 98 out of 100. Rebekah Lowen, Emily Hampson, Tricia Cook, Torie Beckmann and Katy Stecker of Gateway Clay-Busters took team overall high score for Ladies with 441 out of 500. High school division champs included Corey Green, Joseph Mace, Tyler Schulte, Zach Schmitz and Kurt Grote of Gateway Clay-Busters with a team score of 487 out of 500.

Local competitors included the Pulaski County 4H team, which took third among all 4H teams with a team score of 384. Team members include Dalton Fisher, Kolbe Posten, Hunter Weller, Frankie Urbas and Derrick Posten.

“Some of these kids are multi-sport athletes, but for many of them, this is their passion,” Edwards said. “I talked to one young lady who just returned from shooting in a tournament in Florida. It’s how she spent her spring break. These outstanding youth, along with their dedicated coaches, show that not only is Missouri a great place to hunt and fish, but a great place to enjoy the shooting sports too!

 A complete list of scores and winners is available at Missouri Trap Shooters Association online at www.motraps.com.

(Editor’s note: Information in this story provided by the Missouri Department of Conservation.)