By Jim Harris

Managing Editor, Arkansas Wildlife Magazine

JACKSONVILLE — The Bald Knob Trap Team Red squad didn’t save its best for last, but it saved the second best Saturday — a round with only four misses in 125 attempts — to beat Jonesboro Trap Red for the Youth Shooting Sports Senior State Championship at the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation Shooting Sports Complex.

Earlier in the all-day competition, which culminated with the two finalists having already shot five rounds of 125 shots each, the Bald Knob squad put up a 122 out of 125 attempts to advance. In the pressure-filled semifinals against another standout squad, Texarkana Red, the White County team outlasted the South Region champion 116-115. Jonesboro, meanwhile, had a slightly easier time beating Craighead County rival Westside Red in the other semifinal, totaling 117 clays. Then, winning the coin flip and choosing to go first in the championship round, Jonesboro Red put up a 118 score while Bald Knob sat in seclusion on the opposite side of complex headquarters.

Whether the Bald Knob team knew what score it had to beat for the title, it went about its round close to perfection, closing out the final 25 shots without a miss.

“You know what, I was just telling (Corning head coach) Jim Clifton that I shoot a lot of competitions and I’ve shot all over the world, and that right there was more nerve-wracking, watching those young men who worked so hard in their sport to do what they’ve done,” Bald Knob Coach Aaron Throckmorton said. “It’s exhilarating. Exhausting, but elated at the same time.”

Throckmorton’s program, which qualified two other teams in the 64-team senior state tourney bracket, won the 2018 state title, and Bald Knob has also collected an array of junior state titles over the years while dominating the North Region in both divisions. He’s coached the squad since 2006, when he was among the first coaches in the state to be certified in Shooting Sports. This same Bald Knob team — Michael McCarty, Robert McChristian, Stephen Anselmi, Jameson Glaze and Payton King — won a “preview” event of the five-week YSS tournament when it racked up 238 out of 250 targets to capture the Mallards for Marion AGFF Benefit Tournament in April at the Shooting Sports Complex.

“You know what, I can put (their names) in a cup, shake them up and they’re all just as good as each other,” he said of the team’s balance. As for a near-perfect showing under title match pressure, he said, “That’s pretty awesome. I’m so proud of them.”

Does Throckmorton have any secrets to share regarding Bald Knob’s perennial performance level?

“Ah, let me tell you, it’s a mental game. It’s 90 percent mental. You get the basic fundamentals down, it’s just tightening up the screws between the ears,” he said. “I was fortunate enough to be part of the National USA Shooting team for a few years. I was coached by, I believe, the world’s best out of the U.S. National Shooting body. Coach Lloyd Woodhouse was the USA Shooting coach when I was on the team, ’99 to 2000. But we had sports psychologists who stayed in our ears and they made us believe in our true ability. That’s a side of the game that, if you can tap into that, and somehow brainwash these young people into believing in themselves, they can hit them well.”

As for what lies ahead, Throckmorton said, “We’re going after the AIM ATA (American Trap Association) state championship (June 17). That’s the encore. We’ll see if these five want to go and get after that.”

Texarkana Red took the third-place match from Westside, last year’s state champion, which was returning an all-new squad. Bald Knob received $7,500 in scholarship money for first place, runner-up Jonesboro took home a $5,000 check, and Texarkana earned $2,500 for its third-place finish.

Six shooters who were a perfect 50-for-50 in the four weeks of regional competition converged Saturday to determine a Champion of Champions shooter, with Marmaduke’s Isaac Hensley outlasting Mountain Valley Sportman’s Association’s Logan Wagnon when they reached the seventh post, shooting from 21 yards. Wagnon missed his attempt and Hensley followed by shattering his clay for the individual title.

Hensley, a junior in high school, has been coached since he was 6 by his dad, Daniel Hensley, and Chuck Long, a former educator with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and member of the Greene County Wildlife Club, who both coached the Marmaduke team in the tourney.

“It just means a lot,” Isaac Hensley said. “I’ve had quite a lot of experience traveling and shooting, a lot of high-pressure situations … I just take it one shot at a time.”

He said he didn’t feel any added pressure when his opponent missed from 21 yards. “I knew if I missed, I would get to go shoot again, so I knew I just had to focus and break the next one.”

Long said of Hensley, “What you saw out there was exactly the way he is all the time.”

Hensley, who uses a Perazzi MX8 12 gauge, said his Marmaduke Red Gunnin’ Greyhounds squad “didn’t shoot that great as a team, but we’ve got next year. We’ve got one more year.” During Saturday’s three rounds for Marmaduke, Hensley had one 25-for-25 match and two others where he hit 24 of 25.

Hensley also plays baseball, but insists “shooting is my passion.” He received $2,500 in college scholarship money, with a year still to decide where he’ll spend it.

“Chuck and my dad have been my coaches since I was little bitty, and our biggest thing we've ever done is give all glory to God,” he said, adding that he and the team would be headed to Kansas this week to shoot in an event and have a few more events planned for the summer.

In a surprise in the Junior Division on Friday, Sheridan outlasted perennial contender Nashville Orange 115-113 in the title match. Braden Bridges, Luke Douthit and Drake Wafford each missed just one of 25 shots in the final, and Landon Garrison with 22 and Jason Lott with 21 rounded out a solid effort for Clayton Lott’s squad. Berryville took third place.

Grady Seal of Horatio won the Junior Champion of Champions event.

Highlights from the two days of the Youth Shooting Sports state championships are available on the AGFC’s Facebook page.