The Odessa Record -

The Marlin and Odessa Gun Clubs celebrated the close of the Spokesman-Review Inland Empire Trapshooting contest that began January 6 by cementing their position at the top of Division I.

Team competition

Marlin-Odessa scored 799 out of a possible 800 points to win the title this year. Garfield-St. John came in second with 797 points.

In the women’s contest, Marlin-Odessa took fifth place with 622 points. The top women’s team from Garfield-St. John scored 741. Youth members from Marlin-Odessa also won the team title, scoring 726 points over second-place Wallace-Kellogg with 724.

Individual competition

Top individual shooters (those in the AA classification) for Marlin-Odessa were Dan Asker (195) and Bill James (195) of Marlin and Nick Tebow (193) of Odessa. The next lower class of shooters (A) included Markus Smith and Lane Lobe both of Odessa and both shooting 187, as well as Dave Asker and Kevin Myer (both 181) of Marlin.

The B classification lists Tyler Smith (168) of Odessa and Ken Eckhart (155) of Marlin.

In the C classification were Brent Finkbeiner (155) of Marlin and Trevor Smith (153) and Tanner Stanford (153) both of Odessa, while the D classification included Jon Hetting (153) of Marlin and Tucker Walter (127) of Odessa.

The top female shooter for Marlin-Odessa was Carmen Eckhart of Marlin (168).

The top individual shooter in the Junior classification was Lane Lobe of Odessa (187), with Andre Morales of Marlin (162) also in the same group.

Sub-Juniors who did well were Tucker Walter of Odessa and Taeven Brashear of Marlin who both scored 127.

Jim Schell of Marlin scored 160 in the Veteran classification.

Despite the bitter cold on most of the Sundays on which the teams competed, both the Marlin and Odessa clubs competed like the champions they are.

According to the Amateur Trapshooting Association, most shoots include five categories ranging from AA (the best) down to Class D (the lowest-average group).

Sub-Juniors are shooters not yet 15 years old. (Those who have not turned 15 by September 1 can continue that classification for the remainder of the trap year.)

Junior shooters are not yet 18 years old. (Those who have not turned 18 by September 1 can continue that classification for the remainder of the trap year.)

Veteran shooters are those who have reached the age of 65, but are not yet 70. (Those who have not turned 70 by September 1 may continue Veteran for the remainder of the trap year.)