Shown with South Georgia Youth Shooting coach Mike Simpson, left, are the top three overall finishers in the Georgia Junior Olympics Trap Championships held recently in Hartsfield. Shown with Simpson are, from left, Woody Harris, first place; Spencer Ensley, second place; and Will Hinton, third place. At right is Shane Herman of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit.

The South Georgia Youth Shooting Club continued its dominating performances by taking top three overall places – and six of the top eight – in the recent Georgia Junior Olympics held at the club’s Hartsfield range.

Club members also turned in a number of other medal-winning performances during the event and the Scholastic Clay Target Program’s region competition, which was held at the same time.

Club members were qualifying for the National Junior Olympic championships and Nation SCTP championships, which will be held next month in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Coach Mike Simpson again will take a full complement of his young shooters to the event.

The club continues to draw some of the best young trap and skeet shooters from the state to his USA Shooting Regional Training Center on the Dunn Road to prepare for top competitions against their peers from around the country.

Woody Harris took first place overall in the J.O. trap competition with 134 targets.

He was followed by teammate Spencer Ensley, who had 129. Will Hinton, who is from Dacula, but trains in Colquitt County, was third with 123.

Justin Brooks was fifth with 122; Tyler Lirio was sixth with 120; and Ryne Barfield was eighth with 111.

The local team also swept the top three places in double trap, with Chris Webster of Bainbridge taking the gold medal with 160 targets.

Barfield was second with 141 and Hinton was third with 140.

In the J1 class, Brooks was first with 103 targets. Webster was second with 97 and Jones Pidcock was with 93.

Lirio took first place in J2. Barfield was second.

Seth Crosby was first in J3. He was followed by Sawyer Eubanks.

In the women’s J.O. competition, Haley Green was first with 86 targets. She was followed by Katlyn Lawson with 81 and Shelby Walker with 60.

William Brazell of Atlanta took first place in the skeet competition with 111 targets.

Matt Butler of Harris County was second with 110 and John Ferebee of North Carolina was t hird with 107.

The SCTP open doubles, the South Georgia Youth Shooting Club team of Brooks, Hinton and Webster was first with a 326. Hinton and Webster are members of the National Junior Olympic Shotgun team for men’s double trap.

Taking the silver medal was the team of Alan Simms, Hunter Whitehurst and chase Burnett with 221.

In the varsity event, the team of Barfield, Hunter Hancock and Haden Green won the gold with 310 targets.

In the SCTP collegiate competition, the Abraham Baldwin College team coached by Simpson was first with 320. The team includes Ensley, Brooks and Jay Wingate.

The Florida State University No. 1 team, made up of Haden Royal, Gavin Royal and Will English, was second with 201. The FSU No. 2 team of Keith McClellan, Wade Baggs and Jason Phillips was third with 180.

In the senior varsity division, the Master Breakers team made up of Harris, Lirio and Max Milan was first with a 320 targets. The Bridge Creek Clays team of Barfield, Hinton Webster was second with 301.

In the varsity-intermediate division, the Bridge Creek Clay team of Pidcock, Lawson and James Carter was first with 257 targets. The Leesburg team of Jerry Ramsey, Tyler Ramsey and Alex Davis was second 251 targets.

In the rookie division, the Bridge Creek Clay team of Lane Sellers, Alex Lewis and Clayton Brooks was first with 216. The Young Guns, including Sawyer Eubanks and Alan Simms, was second with 147.

The event was one of the largest hosted by the local club and shooters came from around Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina and Florida as well.

The club also played host to a national coaches certification course last week with 21 coaches taking part.

Providing the instruction were Simpson; U.S. Army Marksmanship Shotgun team coach Dean Clark; Flying V Sports coach Craig Hancock; and USA Shooting assistant coach Jay Waldron.