Trap teams compete in regional tournament

DECATUR -- When the school year came to a close, a few Decatur athletes found themselves still in school -- not in the classroom but on the road, competing in a sporting event in the central part of the state.

The Decatur Trap Shooting team traveled south to Jacksonville to compete in the Arkansas Youth Shooting Sports Program's Western Regional Trap Shoot competition, sponsored by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, on May 29 and 30.

The Bulldogs sent four teams to the competition this year, three senior teams and one junior team.

Each team consists of five members. The senior teams are required to shoot two rounds of 50 clay targets. Each targets is worth one point. Each member's score at the end of the round goes into a team composite score. The team with the most hits wins the event. Team members are allowed to use a 20-gauge shotgun to break their targets.

The junior team (made up of students from grades six through eight), included Wyatt Day, Paige Barrett, Cayden Bingham, Zach Luker and Corley Day and competed on May 29. Each team member had to shoot one round of 25 clay targets, making a possible team total of 125 points. The junior team hit 40 targets for a 65th-place finish out of 81 teams.

The senior teams (grades nine through 12) competed on May 30. Team Gold, made up of Bracy Owens, Brody Funk, Joey Barnes, Lacy Barrett and Levi Duncan scored 182 hits for a 53rd place finish out of the 120 teams. Haley Burden, Cameron Shaffer, Kara Becker, Jesse Bruce and Ryan Shaffer of Team Blue finished in 90th with a score of 138 points. Team Bulldog consisting of Samantha Goble, Alex Morrow, Tanner Duncan and Megan Smith finished 104th with 96 points.

Though none of the Decatur teams qualified for state competition this year. Most of the team members will be back next year to better this year's finish.

For the 19 members of the Decatur trap shooting team, lessons learned include the safe use of a firearm -- a primary objective of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, which sponsors the shooting competition.