USA –-(Ammoland.com)- Over 200 junior International Trap and Skeet athletes converged in Colorado Springs June 21-29 for the 2018 USA Shooting Junior Olympic National Championships.
Of those 200 young athletes, nine were wearing SCTP National Team vests: Maddy Bernau, Heather Broski, Jack Brosseau, Trevor Evelhair, AJ Nomina, Molly Sheehan, Mark Shields, Madeleine Taylor, and Tyler Theide (Cole Barrett withdrew from Men’s Skeet due to illness).
After a week of capricious Colorado weather that included extreme heat, strong winds, lightning, and hail, four SCTP National Team members will be trading their SCTP vests for a USA Shooting Junior Team or Junior Squad vest. Consistent with the mission of the SCTP National Team program as a pipeline for USA Shooting’s upcoming junior talent Bernau, Brosseau, and Shields have graduated to the major leagues. Bernau and Brosseau both fought their way to silver medals in Women’s and Men’s Trap, respectively.
Their second-place finish places them on USA Shooting’s Junior National Team. Mark Shields, with his fourth-place finish in Men’s Skeet, will be added to USA Shooting’s Junior Squad.
Heather Broski also made the Women’s Trap final, taking home the gold medal in the J2 age category (age 15-17). In addition, Broski and teammate Jeff Holguin (U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit) finished 5th out of 21 teams in USA Shooting’s first Mixed Team Trap Selection Match.
“All of the SCTP National Team members performed extremely well this week. They displayed great resilience and determination in spite of less than optimum weather conditions. Assistant Skeet Coach Joe Buffa and I could not be prouder of these athletes. All of them represented our program with integrity and professionalism and I look forward to working with next year’s athletes,” remarked Head Coach Terri DeWitt.
Next year’s SCTP National Team will be selected at the SCTP International National Championships in Colorado Springs, July 22-27.
About the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation
The Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation (SSSF) is 501(c)(3) public charity responsible for all aspects of the Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) and Scholastic Action Shooting Program (SASP) across the United States. SCTP and SASP are youth development programs in which adult coaches and other volunteers use shooting sports to teach and to demonstrate sportsmanship, responsibility, honesty, ethics, integrity, teamwork, and other positive life skills. SCTP was developed as a program of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) until the SSSF was created in 2007 to operate SCTP. In 2012, SSSF created SASP and became the managing foundation of both programs.