Gerber a perfect champ

CEDAR FALLS - Austin Gerber of Charles City shot his first perfect 100 score Saturday, and it, coupled with poise in a shootoff with the authors of eight other perfect scores, earned him a coveted state title.

'The weight of the world comes off your shoulders,” Gerber said after breaking the clay bird that clinched the Iowa Scholastic Clay Target Program championship at the Cedar Falls Gun Club.

During regular competition Saturday, Gerber and eight other shooters - River Kelly (Lakes Area Youth), Samuel Fowler (Maquoketa), Brent VanDerWiel (Pella), Brett Kindley (Oskaloosa), Jacob Schneckloth (TC Full Choke), Jay Jaspers (AGWSR), Lane Dundee (Maquoketa) and William Faeth (Fort Madison) - broke all 100 targets.

Gerber, Kelly and Fowler stayed perfect in the first shootoff round, each breaking all 25 targets. In the second round of 25 targets, Gerber missed just once, while Fowler and Kelly each missed twice.

Gerber said staying calm was not an option, given his excitement at competing head to head with so many perfect shooters.

'My hand was shaking when I reached into my pouch for my last two shells,” he said.

In a shootoff for second place, Kelly defeated Fowler, a Maquoketa sophomore who won his second straight Iowa State Trap Championship on Friday. Fowler and Matt Clupach of Ankeny broke all 100 birds in regular competition, with Fowler prevailing in a shootoff.

Maquoketa won the team competition both days, breaking 485 out of 500 birds on Friday and powdering 496 out of 500 on Saturday.

Fowler's teammates were not far behind his two perfect scores, with Brad Scheibe shooting a pair of 99s, Lane Dundee shooting 96 and 100, Jake Schwenker shooting 97 and 99 and Kolton Manning shooting 93 and 98.

'I wish I could take some credit, but they are just naturally gifted farm boys,” their coach, Steve Fowler, who also is Sam Fowler's dad, said.

Ashley Hummell of Mount Pleasant was Saturday's top female shooter with a score of 97. Xavier's Carly Berutti took that honor Friday with a score of 96.

Trap shooting is the state's fastest growing high school sport, said Ron Underwood of New Hampton, president of the Iowa Scholastic Clay Target Program since its inception 10 years ago.

'We had 170 kids at our first shoot, and we had more than 1,300 from 86 schools this year. We've had double digit growth five years running,” he said.

In fact, the sport is becoming so popular the current championship format, with all shooters competing the same day at the same facility, likely will have to be changed, according to Underwood.

'We are maxing out our field capacity,” he said.

Underwood said trap shooting appeals to many high school students who do not participate in mainline sports such as football or basketball.

'We are an all-inclusive sport, and we hope to protect that as the sport continues to grow,” he said.

SCTP champion Gerber, who extols trap shooting's 'no-bench” aspect, said he much prefers state champion trap shooter to B-team football player.

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