Trap shooting takes aim at cancer
Loud bangs echoed around Rocky Dell Hollow Road on Friday as competitors did their best to blast bright orange targets out of the sky.
In addition to quieter sports — tennis and golf, for instance — the Cancer Challenge hosted a trap-shooting tournament and raffled off several firearm-related goods.
Range master Carrol Harless said that he was glad to host this event, even if it made for an incredibly busy week.
“This is a real great event and to me it’s for a great cause,” he said “This is a real worthy cause for me, kind of a personal deal.”
His wife of 55 years, Susie Harless, died of cancer in 2014, he said. With that in mind, he said, he was eager to work with an event aimed at helping cancer patients.
Moreover, he said, he was glad to help foster a safer environment for shooters. The trap range, he said, has only ever had one accident under his supervision.
Jeff Waggner, who has volunteered for 21 years, said he was on the committee that headed the trap tournament.
Volunteers, he said, had a long day out in the sun, making sure the traps were working and the shooters were ready.
The tournament drew shooters age 15 and older, he said, who worked in teams of three, who each took five shots at each of the five stations.
“There’s some really good shooters and some really novice shooters,” he said.
Several of the younger shooters were on high school teams.
One of them, Aaron Zachary, 15, said he’s on the team with Bentonville West High School, and he became interested in trap shooting after seeing the Cancer Challenge tournament in 2014.
“I came out here and I told my dad ‘hey, this looks fun,’” he said.
He’s been shooting since then, along with his brother, Wyatt Zachary, 14.
Wyatt Zachary said he started getting competitive about the same time, and he would be happy to get a perfect score at the tournament.
“I hope I shoot 100 out of 100,” he said. “I don’t think I’m going to.”
Their father, Matt Zachary, is also the coach for Bentonville West High School’s trap team. His sons were scheduled to shoot in the tournament, he said, but until their session started they were doing volunteer work — picking up shells, moving supplies and taking out trash, to name a few things.
He’s glad to work as the coach, he said, because he’s eager to support his kids’ interests.
His team, he said, had eight to 10 kids scheduled for the tournament, of the 26 that make up the team.
The nice thing about this sport, he said, is they can go out and participate and compete with more-experienced or more-athletic shooters, while less-athletic shooters can still compete with them.
“Anybody can participate in it,” he said. “There’s no limits and it’s one of those life sports that they can continue their entire life.”