Beaver Local's Jackson Thomas won the Div. II state trap shooting title on June 6 at Black Wing Shooting Center in Delaware. Also shown is runner-up William Hudson Weisand of Buckeye Trail and third-place finisher William Skrilletz of North Union. (Submitted Photo)

CALCUTTA — Beaver Local junior Jackson Thomas didn’t have much on his mind when he won the school’s first individual state Ohio State High School Clay Target League title on June 6 at Black Wing Shooting Center in Delaware.

It turns out that was the perfect tactic to use.

Jackson hit all 100 targets in the Div. II varsity competition, but so did two more competitors for the first time in the organization’s history. It forced an extra session and Thomas hit all 20 of his targets to outlast the other two competitors to win the boys state title and best overall shooter.

“I don’t know how I did it,” Thomas said. “I wasn’t really thinking that morning. I was relaxed. I didn’t really do anything.”

Thomas said it’s a sport where it’s required that you don’t let any outside thoughts get to you.

“You can’t really be mad or tired,” Thomas said.

He said he just remembered getting good sleep the night before and having a good meal ahead of the shoot.

Thomas was tied with William Hudson Weisend of Buckeye Trail and Dakota Hessoun of North Ridgeville heading into the extra session. The first 100 were shot on the 16-yard line. In the extra session the first 10 were shot from 20 yards and the next 10 were shot from 24 yards out.

Weisend was out first as he hit nine of 10 targets giving Thomas the boys state championship and Hessoun the girls state championship. All that needed to be decided was best overall shooter. Hessoun could only hit eight of her targets at that point.

Beaver Local trap team coach Wayne Saling said he was really impressed the way Thomas handled the shoot because things were not going so smoothly on the technical end.

“One of the things I noticed when he was shooting his last 25 of his first 100 was the machine was breaking targets,” Saling said. “It interrupts your rhythm and your thought process. You’re already nervous about trying to break these last 25 targets. I believe there were four times in that last round where there was a broken target. He did what he was coached to do. He stopped. He put his gun down. He took a deep breath, reset himself and continued on. Just to watch that was amazing.”

Saling said he never saw three competitors get all 100 at the state level.

“I only saw it at nationals,” Saling said. “This is our sixth year at state and there has never been even one 100 straight. This year there were three. I think that’s a testament to the growth of the sport. There was 16 teams six years ago, now I think it’s 55. It’s gone from 240 kids in the state shoot to 1,000.”

Saling said Beaver Local is the second biggest trap team in the state with 62 kids. North Ridgeville, which won the team title, had 76 team members.

Thomas is not new to this level of success. He finished third as a freshman behind teammate Kane Curran as Beaver Local won the state team title.

Thomas said he started shooting with Beaver Local in the sixth grade, but his career really took off when he started shooting with the Dove Dusters out of New Middletown in the Scholastic Clay Target Program around the eighth grade.

Now he’s headed to nationals once again.

“I think he’s been there four or five times now,” Saling said. “At the state tournament there is 500 kids and there’s 10 trap houses. When you go to the national in Mason, Michigan there are 48 trap houses and 1,800 kids. It’s the best in the country. He’s done well there. You have to break a 97 or better to make it to championship Sunday and he’s done that every year he’s been in. He knows what the pressure is like.”

The national tournament is set for July 8-12.

“I call nationals the real deal,” Saling said. “Of the 1,800 they advance the top 400 to championship Sunday. On Sunday there is typically 21 or 22 100 straights. Then there’s a shoot off for the national championship. I’d love to see him either this year or next year get to that spot. We had a couple people hit 100 straight at nationals but it was always on qualifying day or in the team competition. It never has been in the individual. I’d love to see him shoot off for the national championship.”

Notes

• Jackson’s mother Jamie was once the Beaver Local girls tennis coach. He tried his hand at tennis early on, but it was the outdoors sports that he enjoyed the most.

“We had him in lessons when he was little,” Jamie Thomas said. “He had the ability but had no drive for tennis at all. He’s an outdoorsy, construction type of kid.”

• He said he practices mainly at Columbiana County Fish and Game, but also heads to New Middletown and Beaver Falls to shoot.

• Jackson Thomas said he prefers fast shooting with very few pauses.

“It helps when you have the same squad of shooters,” he said. “I don’t like it when they have slow shooters. If I go faster I don’t think about it.”

• Other Beaver Local results at state included: Alex Bomerschem with a 99, Trenton Cable with a 96, Jhett Boyd with a 95 and Jason Tatgenhorst with a 95. Christopher Anderson was second at the jayvee level with a 90. Lily Scaffidi was top female at the jayvee level with an 88. Branston Shrive was third in the novice male category with a 79. Kinlee Sheville was second at novice female with a 79.

Beaver Local junior Jackson Thomas competes at the state trap shoot competition on June 6 at Black Wing Shooting Center in Delaware. (Submitted Photo)