Corning taking five squads to state trap championship

CORNING, Ark. — For more than a decade, trap shooters from Corning’s junior and senior high schools have been at the top of their game, reaching the state championships nearly every year and winning it once.

This year, they’ve made a statement about just how strong they really are, qualifying five squads for the title event.

“We felt really good about that. I have a good group of excellent shooters,” said coach Jim Clifton, who’s led the team for 11 years. “They try hard and put the effort in.”

At the recent regional qualifier event at Jacksonville, Ark., Corning High School’s Senior Black squad earned the win, topping 108 other teams in the process. On top of that, the school’s Senior Gold squad took fifth pace, while the Senior White squad captured 11th place and the Senior Gray squad took 14th place. The Junior Black squad earned a 12th place finish, earning all five squads an invitation to the state championships.

“We had a really good regional event,” said Clifton, who noted out of the event’s top dozen scorers, 11 were from Corning.

“The kids just shot excellent,” he emphasized. “We had 11 with scores of 49 (out of 50).”

Senior Black squad shooters include Horner Weston, Chandler Conyers, Beau Young, Guy Clay Smith and David Ladd.

The Senior Gold Squad includes Katie Clifton, Ty Bippus, Jared Selig, Dalton Thompson and Daniel Tarrantino, and the Senior White Squad includes Fisher Francis, Parker Davis, Luke Wheeler, Rhett Eddington and Timothy Curtis.

The Senior Gray squad is made of up of Garrett Bippus, Dylan Wheeler, Christopher Zitzelberger, Joseph Bradish and Sophia Townsend, and the Junior Black squad consists of Seth Smith, Grady Pennington, Blayne Ray, Hayden Bass and Wyatt Eddington.

Heading in to the state championship event on May 31 and June 1, Clifton said, he and his team “feel good,” but he tries “not to get overconfident.”

The attitudes of the team members, Clifton said, are “excellent. They’re excited and pumped.”

“Really, I feel good about all my squads,” he emphasized.

In practice this week, he told his shooters to “keep after it and remember the objective in each round.”

That’s because shooting at the state event is a whole new experience, Clifton said, and luck, many times, is a big factor in success.

“At state, it’s head-to-head competition, and we all know it takes a little bit of luck to win,” he said.

Last year, Clifton noted, a Corning squad finished second in the state by the closest of margins.

“We got beat by one bird,” he recalled.

Until the championship event, the Corning team will continue to prepare.

“I’m trying not to burn them out,” Clifton said, “but we’re doing enough to keep their skills honed.”