According to the 2022 records of the Amateur Trapshooting Association (ATA) for the target year; Sept. 1, 2021 to Aug. 31, 2022.
RJ Gropp, a junior at Berlin High School is ranked number three in the nation in the Junior Category by the ATA’s official magazine “Trap and Field”.
The prestigious ALL-AROUND AVERAGE Award is based on an athlete’s performance in the three disciplines of trapshooting (singles, handicap and doubles).
The ATA computes All-Around Averages by adding year-end singles, handicap, and doubles averages and dividing by three.
RJ’s singles average score was 99.00% on 3,100 targets, his average handicap score (shooting at the 27 yard line) was 92.61% on 2,300 targets and his doubles average score was 94.22% on 2,300 targets, giving RJ a composite average score of 95.28% and the third highest average in the nation, number two position had 96.10% and number one in the nation had a. average of 96.41% to win the ALL-AROUND AVERAGE Award.
The Junior Category is (a male or female shooter, who is 15 and has not reached his/her 18th birthday).
In the Junior Category you had to shoot a minimum requirement of 3,000 singles, 2,000 handicap, and 1,000 double targets in the 2022 season and have competed in the ALL-AROUND (Championship singles, handicap, and doubles) qualifying tournaments such as “Grand American’ Satellite Grands; ATA Zone Tournaments; State or Provincial Shoots; or any other tournaments where at least 450 shooters are in Championship ALL-AROUND events.
So for Gropp, who has been on the ATA’s All-American team for the last two years and on the Wisconsin State Team for the past five years, the 2022 season was his first time shooting in the Junior Category, which is made up of an older more experienced group of trapshooters.
RJ says, “he is looking forward to shooting in the Central Wisconsin Youth Trap League (CWYTL). The Berlin High School Trapshooting Team, which is part of the Kettle Moraine Trapshooting Conference (KMTC).” He also shoots in the Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) and AIM (Academics-Integrity-Marksmanship) program.
RJ is a member of the Berlin Conservation Club (BCC) and will shoot in the BCC Summer League, other summer and fall trapshooting competition will take him to many in state and out of state shoots.
Much of the information obtained for this article was taken from the official magazine of the ATA “Trap and Field” March, 2023, with the express permission and acknowledgment of the ATA and Trap + Field.
