Tennessee State Match Report

The 2008 Tennessee State match was held yesterday at Roz Sumpter's place in Pulaski, Tn. The weather could not have been more beautiful. We were blessed with temperatures in the mid 60's and a clear sky. We had a pretty good attendance at this match with 29 shooters. Having expected a large number of shooters, Roz planned ahead and set up a 72 shot course. That was more than enough to keep us busy for several hours of hardcore shooting!

On Friday evening before the match, several guys started showing up at the range to shoot and hang out. We were honored to have Scotty York come to the match and he also brought a great talent that he's been hiding from some of us. Scotty prepared and cooked up some of the finest cuisine on a grill that I have ever enjoyed the pleasure of tasting! As a matter of fact, it was so good, that we have a number of pictures below of the food to document the occasion! Thanks again Scotty for sharing with us...

On Saturday morning everyone started showing up at the range early to get their respective rigs ready for the match. We were fortunate that the winds were light first thing Saturday and it was relatively easy to check everything out. Once everyone had arrived, Roz held a shooters meeting and then we were off to the course.

The course was set up with three targets per lane, two shots per target. Most lanes had three shooters per lane. So, it took nearly four hours to shoot the full course. Roz had designated two forced position lanes. One was a kneeling lane and the other was an offhand lane. However, this time Roz gave us a little twist to the offhand portion of the course. At the shooters end of the offhand lane, there was a small pine tree. For this particular match, the shooter must actually have contact with the tree while making each shot. That seemed to throw a little irregular twist into the mix and kept things interesting for all. Overall, I thought the course was set up with a good mix of easy, moderate and expert level targets. It's funny how the easy ones can divert your attention so easily. I sure underestimated some of the easy ones and let them get the best of me this time.

When we first started the match, the wind was not a factor. However, by the time we had shot three or four lanes, it was howling through the trees. I was shooting International with my 12fpe EV2 and had a good start until the wind kicked up. That made things really difficult after a few lanes. We had a very diverse range of equipment and shooters trying various Divisions and classes at this match. As it turned out, fifteen were shooting Open PCP, but the remainder were split between Hunter, Piston and International. Overall, there seemed to be a good variety of choice for everyone.

When we were done, the top dogs were all tied up! Robert Ray and Guy Omictin tied in the Open PCP Division for first place. Robert ended the day by winning first place in a shoot off with Guy. Great shooting Robert! The top Piston Division shooter was our Die hard Piston Aficionado, Cliff Smith! International's top shooter of the day was none other than Rod Bradley. Finally, Hunter Division was won by Charles Garvey. Way to go guys! Great shooting!!

When we were all done with the match, we all met up at the pavilion for a great BBQ lunch. Roz had the event catered by a local BBQ restaurant and it was superb! Of course my favorite was the caramel brownies for desert...

We would like to thank everyone for supporting this shooting event with your participation. It was great to see all of you guys and I am looking forward to next season already. I would also like to thank Roz Sumpter for hosting our matches all year. Roz is a fine host and has spent countless hours keeping up the course, targets and everything that goes along with these matches all year. Thanks again for everything Roz!

The Good Ole Boy's club will resume field target after the winter break. The first 2009 match will probably be held in March. When I have details from Roz, I will let you all know. Thanks again and we look forward to seeing everyone again soon!

Harold Rushton

Final Scoreboard (transcribed from pictures):

Open Division

Name	Score	Place
Robert Ray	68	1st
Guy Omictin	68	2nd
Tom Drenley	66	3rd
Ken Hughes	65	4th
Walt Pollock	65	5th
Roz Sumpter	68
David Slade	62
Reinder Schulsky	62
Terry Garland	61
Robert Hassenpfug	58
Scott York	58
Dave Vinson	56
George Hamilton	55
Robert Crocker	54
Don Hyfield	39
John Blount	DNF

Piston Division

Name	Score	Place
Cliff Smith	52	1st
Pete Matos	44	2nd
Steve Vines	42	3rd
Pat Obrien	28
Andrew Heuben	27

International Division

Name	Score	Place
Ron Bradley	63	1st
Harold Rushton	58	2nd
Brad Troyer	57	3rd

Hunter Division

Name	Score	Place
Charles Garvey	64	1st
David Brown	56	2nd
Michael Robbins	43	3rd
Charlie Hipshire	33
Steve Cos	19
Shane Iceberg	15