The top ten finishers in the shotgun division included (left to right) Naythen Jones of Rock Island County, 98, first; Rohlfs, 95, third; Walter Barnickel of Lee County, 95, fourth; Ian Sherer of Edgar County, 94, fifth; Kylie Byrd of Mason County, 94, sixth; and Cody VanPelt of Fulton County 93, eighth.

Not present for the photo were Ethan Jones of Macoupin County, 96, second; Maison Sherman of Logan County, 94, seventh; Seth Gleason of Logan County, 93, ninth; and Darren Hawkins of Grundy County, 92, tenth.

Logan County teen near perfect on range despite cold, wind
The Logan County 4-H Shooting Sports Club places first in shotgun division

[October 30, 2015]  LINCOLN - The Illinois 4-H State Shoot was held Saturday, Oct. 3, with 58 shotgun and 11 archery competitors at the Brittany Shooting Park in Bunker Hill.

How the youth dealt with the conditions determined their success on the day. Jarrett Rohlfs, 16, of Emden in Logan County, finished third after shooting a 95/100 on the first four rounds and edging out another competitor by two shots in a 25-shot shoot-off.

“In cold, windy weather, you want to wait for the peak of the target before you shoot because that’s when it stops,” Rohlfs said. “The wind can catch it on the way up, so you want to get it at the very top.”

In shotgun, each competitor shot four rounds of 25 targets. The top ten finishers included Naythen Jones of Rock Island County, 98, first; Ethan Jones of Macoupin County, 96, second; Rohlfs, 95, third; Walter Barnickel of Lee County, 95, fourth; Ian Sherer of Edgar County, 94, fifth; Kylie Byrd of Mason County, 94, sixth; Maison Sherman of Logan County, 94, seventh; Cody VanPelt of Fulton County, 93, eighth; Seth Gleason of Logan County, 93, ninth; and Darren Hawkins of Grundy County, 92, tenth.

 

The Logan County 4-H Shooting Sports Club took first place in the shotgun division of the Illinois 4-H State Shooting Sports competition held Saturday, Oct. 3 in Bunker Hill. Members of the team included Seth Gleason, Brandon Goldhammer, Daniel Marcy, Jarrett Rohlfs, and Maison Sherman.

In team competition, Woodford County was named top archery team; and Logan County won the top shotgun team award.

Many competitors were torn between competing at the contest or going deer hunting, but for a group of Logan County 4-H members, having fun with their friends at the state shoot was an easy pick. “We’d have to be quiet if we were deer hunting,” laughed Jake Stoltzenburg.

His buddies agreed. “This is the one thing I can do with my friends that we all enjoy,” said Jake Kirgan.

University of Illinois Extension Shooting Sports Educator Dan Dawson has coordinated the state program since its approval as an Illinois 4-H project in 2009. More than 800 adult volunteers have been certified, and nearly 3,000 4-H members enroll in more than 5,000 different shooting sports projects annually.

Illinois sent its first team to national competition in April 2015. One of those national competitors was Brandon Goldhammer of Logan County, who finished in 11th place Saturday. The experience was challenging, he said, especially since Illinois teams don’t have opportunities to prepare fully for skeet and sporting clay divisions of the competition. Still, the challenge didn’t dampen the teen’s excitement for the shooting sports contest.

Illinois’ national 4-H shooting Sports team will be determined from results of this competition. Support for the national team is provided by the Illinois 4-H Foundation.

About 4-H: Illinois 4-H helps youth learn skills for living. University of Illinois Extension provides 4-H programs in every county in Illinois. Illinois 4-H impacts the lives of 200,000 youth each year through sustained learning clubs and groups and short-term programming.

[Judy Mae Bingman, Extension Media Communications Specialist]