Hazleton Area H.S. Claims High School Div. Trap National Title

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Cougars of Hazleton Area High School (H.A.H.S.) edged out the North Scott Trap Team of Iowa by one target to bring the High School Division title home to Pennsylvania following competition at the 2016 Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) National Team Championships in Ohio.

Patrick Darrough of Drums and Thomas Fuccile and John T. Cibulish of Conygham each broke 196 of their 200 targets with Justin Matteo of Drums and Brian Siroka of West Hazleton each adding another 195 targets to the team’s 978 total.

The North Scott Trap Team finished with 977 targets, led by Drew Bjustrom of Eldridge with 198. Bjustrom was supported by teammates Eric Long of Davenport with 197, Kyle Coomer of De Witt with 196, Andrew Troje of Donahue with 194 and Michael Mohr of Long Grove with 192 targets.

Third place in the division went to the Central Falcons of Wisconsin’s Central High School District of Westosha with 972 targets. Hunter Conrad of Bristol led the team with 197, followed by Evan Wisniewski of Pleasant Prairie with 195, John Dietz of Kenosha, Wisc. with 194, Dustin Hucker of Salem with 194 and Matthew Perona of Bristol with 192.

The Brothers in Arms squad from Memphis, Tennessee’s Christian Brothers High School finished fourth with a total of 968. Nick Gatti of Collierville, Will Wolbrecht of Germantown, Dan Smythe of Memphis with and Seth Cooper of Piperton each broke 194 targets while Winston (Ruffin) Wood of Memphis added another 192.

Rounding out the top five teams were the Waterford Wolverines of Wisconsin’s Waterford Union High School Shooting Team with a final target count of 967. Wyatt Strasser of Waterford was the squad’s top shooter breaking 197 of 200 targets, followed by DJ Grundy of Waterford with 194, Samuel Coates of Waterford with 194, Ross Bluhm of Mukwonago with 193 and Cole Moczynski of Franksville with 189.

Held July 9-16 at the Cardinal Shooting Center in Marengo, Ohio, nearly 2,200 athletes representing 28 states faced more than 961,000 clay targets during eight days of competition in the shooting disciplines of Trap, Skeet and Sporting Clays.

The Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) is a youth development program in which adult coaches and other volunteers use the shooting sports of Trap, Skeet and Sporting Clays, as well as the Olympic disciplines of Bunker Trap, Trap Doubles and International Skeet to teach and to demonstrate sportsmanship, responsibility, honesty, ethics, integrity, teamwork, and other positive life skills. Nationally, there are nearly 13,700 students and more than 2,900 coaches from 43 states participating in the Scholastic Clay Target Program.

The Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation, Inc. (SSSF), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is the National Governing Body for the Scholastic Clay Target Program. SCTP was started by the National Shooting Sports Foundation in 2001.

For more information about SCTP and SSSF, visit www.sssfonline.org. You can also follow SCTP on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ShootSCTP or @ScholasticShootingSports on Instagram.