MOULTRIE — South Georgia Youth Shooting Club’s Shane Slocumb and Josh Webb turned in outstanding performances at the Florida State Trap and Skeet Championships in Gainesville recently, with Slocumb finishing third and Webb fourth overall.

The event drew some top competition to the Gator Trap and Skeet Club, but the young shooters, who train in Colquitt County, more than held their own.

The success of Slocumb and Webb is just the latest example South Georgia Youth Shooting Club members taking their shotguns and the lessons learned from Mike Simpson and excelling at competitions around the nation and the world.

Simpson’s daughter Emma is a member of the National Team and has represented the U.S. in South Korea, Italy and Puerto Rico this year alone and for the last few years has been the club’s most visible member.

But other individuals and teams representing the club are having success as well.

The club played host to Georgia Junior Olympic championships at its Bridge Creek Clays facility, which features an 15-machine, Olympic-style bunker, with a number of club members winning trophies and medals.

Mike Simpson’s 4-H shotgun team performed well when it took part in the state competition this year.

At the state meet, Rob Wingate place first and was the highest-scoring junior at both district and state levels. Zack Kennedy was the highest-scoring senior at both district and state.

Kennedy, son of Terry and Wendy Hall of Camilla, turned in a first-place overall finish at the Georgia Games, held at the Wolf Creek Shooting Complex in Atlanta, knocking down 94 of the 100 targets in the competition.

Kennedy also joined Grant Grantham, Eric Spivey, Cody Hersey and Adam Taylor in finishing second in the senior division national Scholastic Clay Target Program competition held in Vandalia, Ohio. The group won the Senior Novice Division title at the SCTP state championships.

At that competition, Mike Simpson was honored with the Distinguished Coach award.

The club’s team of Ty Wilkes, Luke Hembree, T.J. Mims, Hunter Allyn and Blake Hembree took first place in the junior novice division at the Scholastic Clay Target Program competition in Covington.

The senior expert team of Wingate, Webb, Rebekah Young, Lawrence Glenn and Haley Hancock was third in the state SCTP competition.

A number of the club’s members have been to Colorado Springs this year to compete in both the USA National Championships and the National Junior Olympics.

They include Abel Eubanks, Shane Slocumb, Rebekah Young, Eric Spivey, Emma Simpson, Ashli Pope, Holly Hickey, Michael Carroll, Jay Wingate, Grant Grantham, Cody Hersey, Rob Wingate and Josh Webb.

Slocumb won the gold medal in the 14-and-under age group in single trap at the National Championships in July.

He also took a gold medal in single and double trap at the Geogia Junior Olympics in June, qualifying for another trip to Colorado Springs for the National Junior Olympics in August.

The South Georgia Youth Shooting Club is the product of Mike Simpson’s effort to help train daughter Emma to become one of the nation’s top shotgun shooters.

The club now has more than 30 members, who train at the range just outside Simpson’s rural Colquitt County home.

The range includes a 12-foot wide, 54-foot long, 15-machine bunker than can shoot clay birds at speeds of 100 mph.

The facility also includes stations that allow shoters to practice international doubles as well.

Simpson and his wife Gloria have for the last few years taken those interested in learning and competing in sporting clays to competitions around the country.