Local trap shooters compete at state
PHOTOS BY BRANNON KING The Cedar Hill Smokn’ Guns trap shooting team gear up to compete in the Alabama State Trapshooting Championships, set for June 1-4. Team members gathered for a pre-competition cookout last week.
embers of the Cedar Hill club, including coach Wade Willingham, enjoy hotdogs, ice cream and conversation before practicing for state competition.
Just off Highway 84 in Franklin County, members of the Cedar Hill Smokn’ Guns trap shooting team recently gathered to enjoy a cookout and some practice before heading off to state competition.
The team members, coached by the owner of the Cedar Hill Trap Range Wade Willingham, have been sharpening their skills this year, in the hopes that their work will pay off at the Alabama State Trapshooting Championships in Mathews, which is near Montgomery. “We’ve been practicing every Tuesday night. They’ve really been working hard, and we’re ready for state,” Willingham said.
State A.I.M. (which stands for Academics, Integrity and Marksmanship) director and assistant coach of the Cedar Hill team Greg Robinson also puts in hard work by helping train the shooters and organizing teams to go to state. According to Robinson, five teams will be traveling down to the Montgomery area from North Alabama, including Waterfall Valley of Tuscumbia, Bama Clay Busters, North Alabama Shooting and Archery, Decatur Heritage and the group from Cedar Hill in Russellville.
Proving that shooting is a family effort, Kolton Robinson is a member of the Cedar Hill team, and he said he is looking forward to participating in state. “We’re going down there to compete in singles to see if we can maybe place,” Robinson said before getting in some practice on the range.
Cedar Hill will participate in pre-sub, sub-juniors and juniors competition. Pre-subs include Brannon Oliver and Davis Lindsey, while Reagan Lindsey, Rylee Rogers, Jacob Lynch, Conlee Powers, Jackson Mitchell and Kolton Robinson are in the sub-junior category. Ben Fennel, Trey McWilliams, Robby Ahlstrom and Jonathan Lynch make up the juniors group.