SEMO Trap Shooters place at nationals

A local trap shooting team made quite the name for themselves competing in the national championships.

The SEMO Youth Shooters trap team recently traveled to the World Shooting Complex in Sparta, IL, for the 2023 Grand National Youth Trapshooting Championships.

This four-day event consisted of sporting clays, skeet, handicaps, doubles and singles competitions. There were over 1,600 registered shooters, with 29 states represented with Missouri having the third-highest number of registered shooters with 268.

“The amount of dedication and work that these kids, parents and coaches have put into this program shows when we go to a national event such as this, we can do great things,” said head coach Donald Cash. “For us to place and bring home awards is very gratifying and shows that our kids can shoot and be competitive with the best of the best in the nation.”

The junior squad won 2nd in the singles event in the junior class A with a score of 960 out of 1000 clays hit at the Grand National Youth Trapshooting Championships. The junior team included (left) Caleb Pierce, Eli White, Madison Cash, Logan Hart, Cooper Rideout and head coach Donald Cash.Photo Provided

The SEMO Shooters brought home the following awards:

In the singles event, junior class A 2nd Place with a score of 960 out of 1000 clays hit. The squad included Cooper Rideout, Logan Hart, Madison Cash, Eli White and Caleb Pierce.

Sub-Jr Class AA 2nd place with a score of 961 out of 1000 included Noah Innes, Jack Wiseman, James Gambill, Truston Alexander and Matthew Gilliam.

Individual awards went to Kayden Smith, Pre-Sub Class D 3rd place and Garret Cooper, Jr. Gold Class C Champion. There were over 1,500 shooters in the singles event.

In the handicaps event, Madison Cash took the high overall champion, junior lady champion and ATA All-American Points trophy with the lone perfect score of 100 out of 100 with over 1,000 shooters in this event. Madison will also be featured in the Trap & Field and Trapshooting USA magazines.

There was also a shoot-off between two SEMO shooters to determine 3rd and 4th place in the sub-jr event. Alexander took 3rd place, while Innes took 4th place, where they both shot 98 out of 100.

SEMO trap shooter Kayden Smith won third place in the Pre-Sub Class D at the 2023 Grand National Youth Trapshooting.Photo Provided

For the doubles event, Gilliam took the sub-jr class C champion award with a 95 out of 100 with over 900 shooters in this event. Gilliam also won the high overall sub-jr AA champion award with a combined score of 380 out of 400 clays in singles, handicaps and doubles.

Cash said many of their kids shot their personal best to date at the competition, with the following earning patches for hitting clays without missing. Wesemann, Gambill and Grobe all hit 50 straight, while Innes and Cooper Rideout hit 75 straight and Cooper and Madison Cash hit 100 straight.

The SEMO squad has a total of 25 shooters from Poplar Bluff, Wappapello, Broseley, Harviell, Greenville and Williamsville. The team is open to shooters in 4th grade thru collegiate and anyone in the surrounding area. They want every student to have the opportunity to participate in this sport and have the opportunity to continue this sport in college.