I want to introduce you to the 2025 Illinois All-State team: OPEN: Anthony Fortino 94.4; Randy Miller 93.38; Kent Kruse 92.8; Aaron Kortte 92.54; Tim Lewis 91.99; Nathan Simpson 91.91; Jeremiah Schultz 91.5; Joseph Terzo 91.23; William Christensen 90.8; Kevin White 90.7. SUB VETERAN: Brian Cox 93.4; Brad Bomkamp 91.68; Ken Mitchell 91.3; Mark Fielder 91.07; Rodney Johnson 90.8. VETERAN: Brian Hezel 93.48; Dan Staker 93.17; Mike Hathaway 92.9; Matt Nicol 92.14; Harvey Schultz 91.91. SENIOR VETERAN: Mike Westjohn 93.63; Frank Payne 92.88; Mike Dennis 92.06; Ron Wolf 92.05; Mack Webb 91. LADY 1: Lauren Dunn 93.17; Erin Federle 90.01; Brooke Weidner 89.123; Sierra Sparenberg 89.12; Grace Hahn 88.15. LADY 2: Janice Rigler 89.05; Joan Maiden 85.69; Brenda Dennis 81.99; Sue Staker 81.88; Connie Martin 78.4. JUNIOR GOLD: Wyatt Williams 96.72; Steve Margherio 95.92; Landon Sievers 94.86; Jaxon Wilson 92.4; Ryan Lewis 91.74. JUNIOR: Mason Bartlow 96.18; Carson Sievers 93.9; Payton Wottowa 91.84; Aidan Ireland 89.97; Carter White 89.8. SUB JUNIOR: Noah Goeddel 94.26; Myles Arrowsmith 92.82; Linden Rynders 91.51; Colton Schutte 91.09; Adelynn Wottowa 89.38; CHAIR: Larry Norton 87.96. Congratulations to all these men and women on this accomplishment.
I was happy to see that Downers Grove Sportsman's Club celebrated its 75-year anniversary this summer. Downers is a jewel of a club where you can shoot anything related to the shotgun shooting sports. What makes this club special, however, are the people there. They are friendly, helpful and thoughtful when you show up. I have been there many times and never felt like a stranger. Quite the contrary, I felt like I was everyone's best friend. If you find yourself in northeastern Illinois, stop in at Downers, you will not regret it.
On October 11 the ISTA Board of Directors met and elected 2 new members to the Hall of Fame. Janice Rigler and Mike Dennis will both be inducted into the HOF on Tuesday of the Illinois State shoot. Exceptional shots and exceptional people. It always makes me happy to see good people get what they deserve. Congratulations to both of you.
About a month ago I received a phone call from Riley Kaufman asking me to come up to Auburn, Illinois and recertify the Edgewood Gun Club to throw registered birds. Edgewood years ago had a very active registered program, and I shot there many times. Sadly, over the years, the club went through a bunch of bad managers who ran the club down and left it for dead. I drove up there not knowing what to expect and was completely blown away by what I found. Riley and his dad, Jeff, completely redid the 4 trap fields. They have new concrete, lights, trap houses and trap machines. The club house has been expanded and modernized and is a very comfortable place to hang out and visit. In short, this is a first-rate shooting facility now. But the thing that really stuck out for me was the atmosphere of the place. Everyone was happy, everyone was smiling, it was a place where you wanted to be. You need to check out Edgewood. You will not be disappointed. Their hours of operation are Monday and Wednesday 10am to 7pm. S
Bill Duncan,ATA Delegate
I want to start by introducing you to the 2025 ALL-AMERICAN team members from Illinois. They are as follows:
OPEN 2nd Team -- Garrett Helms; LADY 1 2nd Team -- Lauren Dunn; LADY 2 2nd Team -- Janice Rigler; SUB JUNIOR 1st Team -- Noah Goeddel; SUB JUNIOR 2nd Team -- Coltyn Schutte; JUNIOR GOLD 1st Team Captain -- Ian Lawrence; JUNIOR GOLD 2nd Team - Steve Margherio; VETERAN 1st Team -- Mike Hathaway, Dan Staker, Brian Hezel; VETERAN 2nd Team -- Ron Fearheiley; SENIOR VET 1st Team -- Mike Westjohn, Frank Payne, Mike Dennis; CHAIR SHOOTER -- Larry Norton
Congratulations to all of you.
Over the weekend of September 13 and 14 the Illinois Northern Zone Shoot was held at St. Charles Sportsman's Club. The weather was hot and so were the scores and when the dust settled we had some worthy winners. In Singles, Conrad Davis won the In-Zone Championship and Doug Valerio won Out of Zone. In Doubles, Joe Bohannon won In-Zone and Anthony Fortino won Out of Zone. In Handicap, Conrad Davis won In-Zone and Anthony Fortino won Out of Zone. Finally, in HAA, Wyatt Baine won In-Zone and Anthony Fortino won Out of Zone. Congratulation to all the winners.
I have some milestones that Illinois shooters have reached. At the 25,000 plateau, Chester Tripp reached it in Singles and Danny White and Stanley Crow reached it in Handicap. At the 50,000 plateau, John Upcraft reached it in Singles and Larry Murphy reached it in Handicap. Finally, Mack Webb reached 100,000 combined targets. Congratulations everyone.
Mike Dennis and Mike Westjohn both shot over 20,000 registered targets this past shooting year. My god that's a lot of targets. Way to go both of you.
Sadly, I recently learned we have lost another Illinois shooter. Larry White passed a few weeks ago. Larry was another lynch pin shooter who was a good man and a good shot. You looked forward to seeing him every time you went to the club. I hate it when we lose men like this. Rest well Larry.
I will have the 2025 All-State team in next month's column.
Shoot well and support your local club.
Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate
Hi everyone. The ATA Central Zone Shoot took place from July 25 - July 27. Illinois shooters did well in the classes, yardage groups and categories. Check out Trap and Field Magazine for all the results. We also had 2 big wins. Mason Bartlow won the Singles Championship with a 200 straight and Wyatt Williams won the Doubles Championship with a 100 straight. Congratulations to both of you.
I just got back from the Grand and, as always, it was grand. The numbers of shooters were down a bit, but the scores were out of sight. No big wins for Illinois shooters but we presented ourselves well in the classes, yardage groups and categories. I want to talk about an Illinois shooter who accomplished something notable at the shoot. Adelynn Wottowa, a Sub-Junior shooter, broke her first 100 straight at the Grand. Adelynn is a quiet, unassuming young lady who lets her shooting do her talking. She is also a great young person who is a joy to be around. Congratulations, Adelynn, I am sure this is just the first of many 100's to come.
When you have over 500 Illinois shooters banging away at the Grand for 10 days, you are going to have a lot of milestones being reached. Boy, do we have a boat load of them. So, without further ado, here they are for this month. At the 25,000 plateau, Greg Hogue reached it in Singles, Robert Randell, Thomas McCue, Andrew Verdeyen and Greg Aitken reached it in Handicap and Kevin Morrison and Doug Porter reached it in Doubles. At the 50,000 plateau, Steve Brokow, Alan Maly, Tony Fortino and David Coles reached it in Handicap. At the 75,000 plateau, Denise Dressler reached it in Singles and Lauren Dunn and Brian Cox reached it in Handicap. Finally, at the 100,000 plateau, Brian Bomkamp reached it in Singles, Roland Roesslein reached it in Handicap and Harvey Schultz reached it in combined targets. Way to go guys. Very, very impressive.
Shoot well and support your local club.
Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate
Hi everyone. I want to start with some milestones Illinois shooters have reached. William Reardon and Brent Ausbrook have shot 50,0000 Singles and Jeremiah Schultz has shot 25,000 Handicap targets. Good job guys.
Be sure to check Trap and Field magazine for results of the various state shoots across the Midwest. Illinois shooters have been tearing it up at these shoots. I want to highlight some notable wins we have accomplished. Mason Bartlow won the out-of-state Singles Championship at Kentucky. Ian Lawrence won the out-of-state Doubles Championship at Iowa. He also won the out-of-state Junior Gold HAA and HOA. Finally, Chase Horton was the Runner-Up in the out-of-state Doubles Championship at Wisconsin.
I sadly must talk about the loss of two longtime trap shooters in Illinois. Norman Ward and Gary Gress have both passed away over the past month. Both of them were good men, good shots and good friends. I always looked forward to seeing them at shoots that I went to. I know I sound like a broken record, but it saddens me no end to not have people like these guys at our shoots anymore. Rest well guys.
I want to take a moment to say how sorry I am that Bill Martin has passed. Bill was legendary in his generosity towards trapshooting. The ATA, state organizations and individuals have all benefited from him. God does not make men like Bill very often and we were honored to have him in our lives.
Shoot well and support your local club.
Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate
Hi everyone. Shooting has really ramped up in the Midwest. As I write this, the Great Lakes Grand, The Missouri State Shoot, the Kansas State Shoot and the U.S. Open have taken place. Illinois shooters have been winning classes, yardage groups and categories all over the place. It would take me forever to list them all out. Please read the shoot reports of all these shoots to see the dominance of our shooters. I am going to mention two young men who are on a tear. Ian Lawrence, at the Missouri State shoot, won the Doubles, HAA and the HOA. At the U.S. Open, he won the Doubles and HOA. Wyatt Williams won the Handicap and the HAA. Great shooting guys.
Now to the Illinois State Shoot. The rain gods decided to make up for several months of dry weather by dumping several inches of rain on us in a two-week timeframe. There was mud but the club held up remarkably well and we had good targets, great scores and lots of smiles by the end of the shoot. I'll talk about the AIM shoot first. It is now a comp factor 4 shoot and several of our young men and women received All-American points. The winners were, in Women's competition, Pre-Sub - Madison Lewis, Sub-Junior - Erin Federle, Junior - Madison Franklin and Junior Gold - Chloe Anderson. In Men's competition, the winners were, Pre-Sub - Elliott Turpin, Sub-Junior - Ryland Douglass, Junior - Mason Doran and Junior Gold - Haydon Sanson.
In the adult state shoot, we were a solid comp 5 factor again. We had fierce competition all week long. After the smoke cleared, we had several worthy winners. In state, the winners were, Singles - Jaxson Wilson, Doubles - Ian Lawrence, Handicap - Brenden Mowen and Ian Lawrence won both the HAA and HOA. The Out-of-State winners were, Singles - Ricky Marshall, Doubles - Jason Kruse, Handicap - Ricky Marshall, HAA - Jason Kruse and Ricky Marshall won HOA.
I have a monster of a list of milestones that Illinois shooters have reached. It's just another indication that the shooting season is in full swing. At the 25,000 plateau, David Firkins, Payton Wottowa, Andrew Verdeyen and Steve Margherio have reached it in Singles. David Firkins and Ignacio Villagomez have reached it in Handicap. Micheal Ruebhausen, Thomas Clark and Tad Horton reached it in Doubles. At the 50,000 plateau, David Gillmore, Richard Drennen and Kent Temple have reached it in Singles. Kenneth Mitchell, Michael Ruebhausen and William Huhn reached it in Handicap. Alan Maly and Jim Olin reached it in Doubles. At the 75,000 plateau, Steven Johnson and John Kravanek reached it in Singles. At the 100,000 plateau, Darrell Osterstag reached it in combined targets and Paul Rogers reached it in Hhandicap. Finally, Fred Moffatt reached the 200,000 Singles plateau. Add this all up and this is a lot of targets shot.
Finally, on a personal note, Brad Mayberry ran against me to be the delegate of Illinois. I can't begin to tell you how grateful, happy and humbled I am by your support. I promise I will do the best possible job in representing all the shooters of the State.
Shoot well and support your local club.
Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate