It’s one big family and the first priority is safety.
The Bob White Club out of Alexandria that features the NKY Top Guns are rather competitive, too.
The Top Guns will head to nationals next week in scholastic clay and trap shooting already having claimed five state championships at the Kentucky State shoot recently.
Dennis and Sharon Menning have been coaching the team for 23 years, who have created a family, fun environment that was started by Larry Boyle in 1999.
“We have a very dedicated group of kids. They all come to practice twice a week and are very disciplined in their shooting,” Dennis Menning said. “Not only do we teach kids how to shoot, but we teach the safety aspect of shooting guns. Kids are very safety-oriented and gives them responsibility of handling guns.”
They’ll make their way to Marengo, Ohio to compete in nationals starting on July 7. In a field of thousands of shooters, it’s rather familiar territory for the Top Guns, making their way a little more than two hours north for numerous shoots a year.
“I think we can go into this year with a chip on our shoulder, shoot our best and we can place or do pretty good up there,” Campbell County rising senior Ben Ramsey said. “I’ve been shooting up there since I was nine years old. We shoot there for a majority of our time.”
Ramsey joined the Top Guns two years ago, prior to that he was with Campbell County Game and Fish. He’ll be making his ninth trip to nationals.
The team primarily consists of kids from Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties. It may not be one of the traditional sports, but most of the kids on the team are avid hunters and wanted to expand on their shooting. The team this year has 24 members ranging from fourth through 12th grade and on up to college.
The support for one another is why the team enjoys the sport so much. Not only are they competing against other teams, but they also compete against one another in the individual competitions. There are team competitions, but for example at the state shoot, Ramsey, Joey Stubbs and Colin Roomes needed a tiebreaker to determine the state champion in the senior division trap competition, each hitting 193 out of 200 targets. Ramsey and Stubbs went to a tiebreaker for the second straight year to determine the state champ. Ramsey ended out coming on top this year.
“This year he got me. Last year I got him,” Stubbs said. “We’re all a big group of friends and have fun when we go to shoots. We make it fun, it’s not all just about shooting.”
Stubbs explanation of shooting is similar to what a basketball player experiences when they get going.
“You just focus on every detail and try to hit 99/100 if you miss one. Find your rhythm and if you can get to the point where you get everything else out of your head, you’ll be fine. That’s the hardest part about it. Whoever can focus the most is who separates themselves. If you’re really focused you can hit 1,000 targets straight,” Stubbs said.
All three are classmates at Campbell County and will be seniors next year.
Josie Bach, who will be a senior at Simon Kenton, won the state shoot senior Lady Champion individual shooting competition in both trap and clays.
“The whole team is so supportive. Even if you have a bad round everyone is cheering you on,” Bach said. “Everyone is always there for each other no matter what.”
Bach is hoping to top her personal best of 192 in the trap shooting contest at nationals. She was turned onto the team by a friend, not knowing one could compete on a team for the sport.
“I’m an outdoorsy girl and like that other than regular sports,” Bach said.
The Top Guns claimed the top three boys spots in the state in scholastic trap shooting and Bach won the girls individual trap shooting contest. Stubbs, Ramsey, Roome, Ethan Wildeboer and Toby Schry won the senior varsity trap competition while Roomes, Stubbs and Bach won the sporting clays senior varsity division.
They’ll compete in trap, sporting clays, and a handicap event that is shot from 25-yard line at nationals. And they’ll also be in doubles in trap. Trap and sporting clays are shot from 16 yards away, the handicap event from 25 yards. At nationals, the main difference is the amount of targets, in a normal shoot its 100 targets, at nationals it is 200 targets per event, 100 on each day.
Most of the members of the team prefer trap shooting over clays.
“Clays is like an obstacle course. They could come out two at a time, one rolling across the ground and one over your head. Trap you stand there and it’s five posts, the birds (clay pigeons) come out and you almost know where they’re going but sometimes you don’t,” Ramsey said.
Menning said the best they’ve ever finished is second in the senior division in the 16-yard trap.
“They’ve been shooting really well. We hope to make some noise when we go to nationals and feel like we have a chance to place, especially our senior division. The way we’ve been shooting, we’re hoping to place in the top three,” Menning said.