Mount Pulaski High School Trap Team wins State Championship
Eleven members going to first national competition

[June 06, 2018] 

The Mount Pulaski High School Trap Team, in just their second year competing, won the Illinois State Trap Shoot on Saturday June 2, 2018 at the Brittany Shooting Park in Bunker Hill.

According to Head Coach Ryan Mott, "This is our second year to compete in the Illinois High School Clay Target League and the third year for the League in Illinois. The league is comprised of students in grades sixth -12th from 26 high schools across Illinois. We have 31 of the over 500 students competing in Illinois. There are almost 22,000 students from over 800 high schools competing this spring across the country. Our competitive season is five weeks long. Each week our top 19 shooters are compared against the top 19 from the six other schools in our conference who have a similar roster size. We finished the regular season with a record of 27-3 and placed second behind Staunton High School in our conference."

Mott continued explaining the event, "For those who may not know what trap shooting is, you have a trap house that is 16 yards in front of your squad of five shooters. Each shooter will shoot at five targets each from five stations. When the shooter calls for his target (pull) the target appears. The target is traveling at 42 mph in an unknown angle. The shooter must adjust his swing and target lead before shooting at the target."

Mott and two of his children, Kaden and Karson, were unable to attend the state event due to a wedding on Saturday, but Assistant Coaches Josh Pharis and Ed Anderson took over the coaching duties and they each had their own stories to share from the day.

"Well, I will say this," began Josh Pharis, whose son Rhett is one of the junior high members on the team, "It is a great honor to be apart of such of a great-growing program and I thank the parents of the young adults that entrust myself and the other coaches to share our love for the shooting sports.

"We have all different levels of shooters on our team which makes us a well-rounded team that has improved all year long. We have shooters that can break 50 straight and that have been shooting for years. For me the real excitement is when a new shooter breaks their first bird and then their second and soon is breaking 20 and so on.

"Throughout our season and into our appearance at the State Tournament and ultimately becoming the State Champions, the Mount Pulaski Hilltoppers Trap Team has proven once again that there is NO sport that the Hilltoppers can’t Dominate. WE ARE MP!"

Pharis also noted some highlights from the weekend. "There wasn’t one summer weather event we didn’t see. Mother Nature got them all in. Sunshine, overcast, rain, no wind, wind ..... and more wind!," he exclaimed. "I saw shooters that shot their personal best and some that didn’t shoot to their expectations, but everyone held their head high and represented our team well.

"As the weather changed multiple times throughout the day a squad would come off the field after experiencing some tuff targets and immediately go to the next squad that was taking the field and encourage them and share how to adjust for the changing target presentation. The Mount Pulaski fans were awesome and I want to thank them for supporting our team. There are no better fans!"

Ed Anderson also enjoys coaching the kids and his own daughter, Maggie, a shooter with five years of experience, is also a member of the team. "I was excited for the whole team," said Anderson. "I just enjoy working with all the kids. I get to do more work probably with the less-experienced shooters. Maggie, I kind of just watch her most of the time. She carries an average of three birds higher than I do on a round. Once in a while she will ask me about something if she's having an issue with it, but most of the time she figures it out. When she's not hitting she's able to figure it out because she's shot on a couple of teams for about five years. She has a lot of experience.

"A lot of our top shooters that are leading our team right now have been shooting for several years. It's their second year on this team, but they've been active on other teams for three to five years. So there is a lot of experience there. I have a hard time deciding if I have more fun shooting or working with the kids, teaching them to shoot. I have just as much fun doing one as I do the other. It's a passion with me. I just love working and introducing new people to the sport and helping them get better."

Right now these Hilltoppers are as good you can get. A State Championship Trap Team that was comprised of 22 of the 31 team members. The State Champions were honored on Saturday night with a firetruck escort back into town and a celebration at Pizza Man.

Along with a team State Championship, other Hilltoppers who were individually recognized on Saturday included:
Maggie Anderson was awarded a 2nd Place medal for the season in the Varsity Ladies division. She also received a 2nd Place medal for her shooting in the Varsity Ladies division at the State Tournament.

Caitlynn Lewis received a medal for her 3rd Place finish in the Tournament for Novice Ladies division.

The following shooters had perfect rounds at the Tournament and where recognized for 25 straight: Maggie Anderson, Brandon Batchelder, Mark Landers, Maison Sherman and Makayla Stewart.

According to the coaches, trap shooting is a fast-growing sport, not just in Illinois, but across the nation. In 2017 there were 16 members on the team in its inaugural season at Mount Pulaski High School. This year that number nearly doubled. Not all 31 members of the team participated at the state shoot as some had other obligations.

The 2018 Mount Pulaski Trap Team members are:

Seniors: Dixon Aylesworth and Hank Hamilton.

Juniors: Maggie Anderson and Maison Sherman.

Sophomores: Brandon Batchelder, Autumn Benhart, Cody Brady, Aaron Davis, Austin Killion, Braydin Lanners, Kaden Mott and Makayla Stewart.

Freshmen: Lexis Caslin, Garrett Fitzpatrick, Matthew Hagenbuch and Bobby McDonough.

Eighth Grade: Jordan Benner, Lucas Kuhlman, Caitlynn Lewis, Karson Mott, Cullen Tyson, Mark Landers (Lincoln Junior High) and Griffen Turner (Chester-East Lincoln).

Seventh Grade: Jackson Fricke, Oran Kuhlman, Walker Allen (Zion Lutheran, MP), Clay Aylesworth (Zion Lutheran, MP), and Rhett Pharis (Chester-East Lincoln, Lincoln).

Sixth Grade: Jameson Lowe, Alec Martin and Kellen Wilham.

Hilltoppers named to the All State Team:
* Denotes back-to-back All State Team members. Brandon Batchelder*, Maison Sherman, Maggie Anderson, Hank Hamilton, Kaden Mott*, Alec Martin and Rhett Pharis.

In addition to all of these accolades, there were 11 members of the Mount Pulaski Trap Team who received an invite to the National Championship Tournament next month in Michigan. This year is the first year for a National Championship Tournament which is set to take place on July 12-15 in Mason, Michigan, according to Mott.

From the nearly 22,000 students competing this spring, the top 2,000 are being invited to compete for the title of National Champion.

Eleven Hilltoppers earned the elite invitation to the National Tournament:
Rhett Pharis, Maggie Anderson, Brandon Batchelder, Hank Hamilton, Braydin Lanners, Kaden Mott, Makayla Stewart, Maison Sherman, Mark Landers, Alec Martin and Cullen Tyson.

Many congratulations to each and everyone of these accomplished young individuals.

[Teena Lowery]