THE 2021 GATOR CUP

THE 2021

The 2021 Gator Cup was held at Quail Creek Plantation February 9th through 14th. It seems, due to popular demand, it starts earlier each year. If you shot the Caribbean Classic the previous week you could be on your seventh day of quality Florida competition targets, with five more to go. The local weather was getting back to normal, and a beautiful week was forecasted—with maybe just a spot of rain on the weekend.

Lois Neely, Casey Chase and Becky Rodgers handled registration and scoring. Maria Fanizzi’s all-star staff was in the clubhouse doing what they do best: keeping shooters happy. Cody and Jeannie were in the Pavilion whipping up wonderful meals. Rick, Abraham and the field gang were keeping things running on the courses. Rick Hemingway, John Snowden, Sean Powers, and Eric Dorsey were managing the courses. Fred and Joe Fanizzi, Joe Scull and Doug Vine were setting targets. General manager Fred Fanizzi had everything in place for all to have a quality experience.

Need something? Anything? You could get it there with 30 vendors set up for you to see, touch and buy all things sporting clays. Glasses to guns, it is all here. Shooting got underway Tuesday with the 100 bird FITASC and the sub-gauge events. Practice courses were open, and it was a beautiful day!

Briley Sub-Gauge

The Briley Sub gauge events were set by Fred Fanizzi on the White course and would run through Friday. Eight stations with four LaPorte traps per station nicely accommodated all four gauges. By the finish of the second day, only one 50 straight had been posted. Steve Naatjes hit them all with his .410! Shoot-offs were held on Friday evening to sort out the winners. Some took their titles with just two shots as their opponents were not present. Naatjes’ 50 held strong and he added another win with a 48 in 28 gauge. 20 gauge went to John Maroulis, also on a 48 and Jared Rumor took the 12 gauge win,

BY DEE ORR

STEVEN PARR

again with a 48. Fun fact: it looks to me like Steven Parr won the race to sub-gauge Master class. He had 16 punches from the Zoli Classic and got another seven here. However, Steve Naatjes was also gathering punches; he got four at Zoli, four at Caribbean and 18 at the Gator. Technically, on Friday 2/12, when the sporting sub-gauge events finished up, Parr reached 20 and Naatjes was at 19. Of course, that is only the view from here in my little window to the world.

Kolar FITASC

I shot the 100 target FITASC event Tuesday afternoon. It was set on the south side of Route 68, near the Red Stag fields. Vine set the targets for this event; this is the fifth year he has set the FITASC in this area and he knows it well. Parcour 1 was set way in the back. The stations were in the shaded area, but the targets were not. This is one where Mr. Vine likes to see us dance for the pairs, including one from the far left the next from the far right, and so on.

The A bird was a rising crosser with lots of spring. The C was a rabbue, but it was a friendly one SIDE EVENTS

12G JARED RUMER 20G JOHN MAROULIS 28G STEVE NAATJES .410 BORE STEVE NAATJES SUPER SPORTING KEVIN DEMICHIEL 5-STAND BILL MCGUIRE 20G FITASC RUBEN SPELL 28G FITASC FRANK BRUNO 48 48 48 50

50 49 48 47

showing all face at the end. A low incomer, a belly crosser and a chandelle in the adjacent field rounded out the card for the first two pegs. The F bird, a teal, going entirely in the opposite direction was added on Peg 3.

Parcour 2 was for sure the friendliest of the group; an edgy rising battue showed full face by Peg 3, some fast, low birds required quick action. Parcour 3 was deceivingly challenging. Its big air targets were covering a lot of ground. The E bird from Peg 1 was challenging, as it immediately rose up behind a tree and the next you saw of it, it was falling with some edge. Pretty cool target. This parcour became more forgiving as you traveled the pegs. Parcour 4, the land of the driven bird—not one but two! The C bird was a battue and the B a standard, both from a 100 foot tower. We saw a many of these, however, they became kinder as the pegs moved west and they turned into heavenly crossers. The D was a screaming crossing rabbit and when paired true from Peg 2 with the crossing A bird, it became a challenging set. All in all it was a fun, frustrating, challenging and awesome set of targets. Not necessarily in that order.

After the first day, Eric Harvey led the pack with his 93. By the end of shooting on Friday Gebben Miles and Tom Seay were on top of the leader board with 96s and Karen Shedd had posted a 93 for the Ladies that stood. Once all 297 participants had finished, a shootoff Sunday night determined the

FITASC

HOA GEBBEN MILES

96 RU ANTHONY I. MATARESE, JR 96 M1 TOM SEAY 96 AA1 BRADLAN MCDONALD 88 A1 LANDON DELOACH 84 B1 WARREN STRICKLAND 71 C1 RICK HALL 76 D1 KEN RUDOLPH 53 E1 YUSSEF HADDAD 69 LADY KAREN SHEDD 93 JR KAREN SHEDD 93 VET WENDELL CHERRY 94 SUP VET BRIAN DU QUESNAY 85 SR SUP VET GEORGE BOGNER 81 LEGACY ED GOTT 56 KEVIN DEMICHIEL

FITASC AND 5-STAND LADY CHAMP KAREN SHEDD

winner: Miles HOA, Anthony I. Matarese, Jr. runner-up, and Seay M1.

Sub-Gauge FITASC

The Elite Shotgun 20 and 28 gauge FITASC was set by Vine, facing south in the area across Route 68. There were five traps per parcour, with a shooting square for each gauge. Parcour 2 offered a battue as the D bird and a 70mm as the E. Both were face out from Peg 1, and by Peg 3 were very edgy. A shootoff was required to separate the three 28 gauge 47s turned in. It resulted Frank Bruno, Trevor Human and Jared Rumer. Alexandra Wampler was Lady champ with 44. One hundred-fortyeight shooters shot the 20 gauge, with Senior Super Veteran Ruben Spell taking HOA with his 48. I won ladies with my 44.

5-Stand and Prelims

Wednesday added the 5-Stand event to the mix. It was set by Joe Fanizzi, his first target setting appearance—impressive at only 17 years old. I shot it on Wednesday afternoon, and that young man set some very big targets! Someone decided to grab a marker stone from the front of the Fanizzi home, brought it to the 5-Stand and surrounded it with flowers for a little comic relief. News of the difficulty of these targets travelled fast, I am not sure if it helped or hindered the turnout, but by the end of the week 300 shooters had taken a shot at it.

Layout 1 offered some very tightly sprung crossing birds, the 1 bird fast and low at about 35 yards that became 50 or 60 by the time you shot. Number 2 was high and crossing, starting at about 50 yards and stretching out. It got a little friendlier from there with some incoming teals, but it was still a stout set of targets. Layout 2 seemed kinder, but still the targets stayed out with a good bit of distance. The exception was the number 6 rabbit, fast and crossing into some palmettos which shortened the shooting window, the 1 bird, a quick and quartering from the left, offered a bit of relief. A high incoming midi, incoming teal and a high quartering out 5 bird completed the set. The true pair combinations were challenging, and each layout was shot single, report pair, true pair. Bill McGuire posted an astounding 49 to win this event (Joe’s new best friend).

The trophies for the 5-Stand event had a logo on the top right corner that acknowledged Chuck Frazier of Promatic who passed last summer. Chuck had been an integral force behind this event and the Gator Cup since its inception and is dearly missed.

Wednesday was a picture perfect day, warm with no wind. As the day came to a close all of the sporting courses were set and ready. Quail Creek is blessed with a large amount of real estate which facilitated both of the 100 target sporting courses to be set over 17 stations. One four bird station and

BILL MCGUIRE SHOT A 49 ON THE 5-STAND SET BY JOSEPH FANIZZI

all of the rest six, would keep the mass of shooters moving nicely. The Blue course was set by Doug Vine and overlaid with six traps per station, allowing for a fast transition each evening. The Red course, set by Joe Scull, had four traps per station. The Promatic team brought in 160 traps to make this happen. These guys, nice as they can be, are all business and their logistics are stellar.

Thursday: BEAUTIFUL, again! The Thursday Blue Prelim set by Vine was shot over 17 stations and hosted 288 shooters. Several challenging true pairs added a good degree of difficulty to the event. Grace Callahan shot a stellar 97 to put her in a tie for HOA with Wendell Cherry and Zach Kienbaum! I was pretty sure there would be a large gathering at the Friday night shoot-off—and there was. As it turned out, only Callahan and Kienbaum showed. Joe Fanizzi set the shoot-off targets and they were stout. Lester Pride won Super Veteran over Malcolm Parker in a tight race. In the finale, Kienbaum took the HOA spot and Callahan the runner-up.

Friday, ditto on the weather, mid 80s. It’s hard to believe that just a week ago we were in our winter clothes. Today’s agenda

5-STAND

THURSDAY PRELIM BLUE

HOA ZACHARY KIENBAUM 97 RU GRACE CALLAHAN 97 M1 WENDELL CHERRY 97 AA1 BEN SHEWMAKER 88 A1 THOMAS JACOBS 90 B1 ROBBIE SMITH 80 C1 SEAN MAINLAND 81 D1 TED DEPPE 73 E1 YUSSEF HADDAD 66 LADY GRACE CALLAHAN 97 SUB JR KAYLA WILGUS 63 JR HUNTER STOVER 94 VET WENDELL CHERRY 97 SUP VET LESTER PRIDE 89 SR SUP VET GEORGE BOGNER 86 LEGACY JIM THOMAS 77

FRIDAY PRELIM BLUE

HOA ANTHONY I. MATARESE, JR 96 RU ZACHARY KIENBAUM 96 M1 DERRICK MEIN 95 AA1 PAUL MAULDIN 84 A1 JAY MCKNIGHT 81 B1 DUSTIN KRAUSS 71 C1 RICK HALL 72 D1 JEFREY STONE 68 E1 LAURA STEES 55 LADY SHELBY MOON 90 SUB JR BRAYDEN WOJCIESZAK 84 JR JOSEPH PINCHIN 90 VET J. KEITH HIGGINS 91 SUP VET MALCOLM PARKER 88 SR SUP VET TOM SMITH 87 LEGACY JIM THOMAS 68

FRIDAY PRELIM RED offered a true pair of perpendicular rabbits; the right was full spring HOA RU M1 ZACHARY KIENBAUM J. KEITH HIGGINS RYAN HARPER 100 99 98 and the left off-speed. That was just one of several challenging pairs. AA1 KAYLA KANE 92 Top scores were two 96s, shot by A1 JACKSON SCHAAF 92 Anthony I. Matarese, Jr. and Zack B1 CONNOR DANIEL 80 Kienbaum and was resolved by a C1 CHARLES SPRUILL 88 shoot-off that went two rounds, D1 CHARLES SHULL 79 with Matarese taking the win. This E1 JACK MCKENZIE 81 shoot-off gave an appreciative LADY SHELBY MOON 94 crowd a nice opportunity to see SUB JR CHARLES SPRUILL 88 some stellar shooting. Shelby JR TODD HITCH 98 Moon took the Ladies win on both VET SUP VET SR SUP VET J. KEITH HIGGINS PAUL MCCORMICK RUBEN SPELL 99 96 88 Friday prelims with a 90 on Blue and a 94 on Red, which put her in a LEGACY RICHARD HERRIFORD 87 tie with Diane Sorantino, who had already left the range. The Okeechobee County Tourist added two more prelims. I shot the Development Council sponsored Red, set by Joe Scull at 11:30. This all three prelim events. course normally hosts 14 stations, but three more were squeezed in making for a tight fit with bumper Super Sporting to bumper carts throughout. Fortunately, they held off the The PMS Firearms Super Sporting incoming rotation until the course event started on Saturday. The was clear from the prior. It was a White course had been pretty friendly course, with the transitioned from sub-gauges to biggest challenge a true pair off a Super Sporting overnight, with tower on Station 12. Zach Vine being the new target maestro. Kienbaum managed to ace the It was a fun, yet challenging course with 100 straight, runner-up course. I was squadded with Kevin was J. Keith Higgins with a 99. DeMichiel at 3pm Sunday. This Over on the Blue course things gave me the opportunity to watch were not so forgiving. Station 11 him run it, firsthand. More

FATHERS AND DAUGHTERS

impressive was that he did it with 51 shells, only because he had a no bird on one of the pairs. Center punched them all. Six on 49 followed, a shoot-off gave Clint Hinton the runner-up position, and Todd Hitch M1.

There are groups that support our sport in a manner unlike any other. Natalie’s Orchard Island Juice Company, of Fort Pierce, Florida is one of those. They donate an enormous amount of product to shoots, not just the big registered events in the southeast, but also to many, many charity fundraiser events here in Florida. This year alone in just the big three local events, The Zoli, The Caribbean and Gator, they donated 15,000 units of juice that were spread throughout the courses in coolers. They also provided gift bags to all of the RV campers. The juice is fresh and delicious! Shout out to John Martinelli for heading up this program.

Cole Fine Guns/ Beretta Main Event

Large payouts in class and concurrents helped draw 536 shooters to this event. Saturday was a beautiful day with a little south wind. The Red course, set by Scull, was looking just a tad kinder after the first day when I analyzed the scores. However, it did have its own set of challenges, like the report pair on Station 11. The first, a black trap shot from 30 yards in front of the station, which rose away quickly then faded left, followed by a swift orange crosser from the far left. Station 16 offered a true pair from overhead, one directly over the station going straight away, the other quartering from the left and crossing the first at about 20 yards. Awesome pair!

Over on the Blue course, set by Vine, were several eye catchers (and crossers) as well. Station 10 was a report pair coming from the far left off a 100 foot tower—the first, a black bottomed international target, stayed high as it began as a crosser, then turned away, and the second a fast orange target that made a 45 degree beeline from the tower to the woods. Station 14, a true pair off the wooden tower from the right, came out of the treetops about two seconds after the call, with a lot of distance between. This was one of the few times when a shorter person had an advantage, because they were so high, the roof of the station was an impediment to tall folks. Once all the scores from the first day of the Main Event were posted, Jasper Copeland and Zach Kienbaum both had 96s on the Red and high score on the Blue was a 95 by Brad Kidd Jr.

Saturday’s social event was a bit different this year due to the virus. Instead of the usual big Saturday night extravaganza, the same wonderful prime rib dinner was available from 11am until 4pm to spread out the crowd. Awards from the completed events and the 30 gun giveaway began at noon. Due to the new format, you did not have to be present to win. In addition to the guns were several gift certificates, two sets of ESPs, a three lens Pilla kit, shooting glasses from SGS and several gift certificates from Briley. The big prize winner, courtesy of Beretta and Cole Gunsmithing was SubJunior Connor Daniel of Georgia, who took home the DT-11 Gold Sporting with matching TSK Stock. Connor had a big weekend and made several trips to the podium Sunday night.

Sunday morning arrived a bit iffy, with some serious weather threatening the early rotation. However, it mostly passed to the

RICH COLE AND BRIAN BUZZI AWARD CONNOR DANIELS A BERETTA DT11 WITH COLE TSK STOCK

southwest where some FITASC shooters got wet, but Range Manager Rick Pittenger felt comfortable and allowed shooters to begin their rotations on time. It turned into a really nice day with a bit of wind from the south. When the scores came in Sunday evening, as is often the case, the courses had leveled out score-wise. It seems first day nerves and tightness, vs. second day pressure and fatigue or vice versa seemed to have more impact on the numbers than target difficulty. Upon close examination, it was a wash. I find that these men and women at the top are so good that looking at scores in the lower classes often tells a clearer story.

Kienbaum took the HOA with 189, Kidd Jr. (187) was runner-up, Matarese Jr. was M1 (186). Diane Sorantino was Lady Champion with 90 and 88 for a 178. Remarkably, very few shoot-offs were required in the Main Event. FITASC and Super Sporting did have some ties to resolve, which were sorted out in short order.

As the light began to fade, the awards ceremony began, many had already begun their journeys home. Heavy hors d’oeuvres were put out (Gator bites included) and Club Manager Fred Fanizzi began the show. As is tradition here, it ended with Gator Cup HOA winner Zachary Kienbaum being sprayed with champagne from the right by Doug Vine and doused with an icy water cooler from the left by Joe Fanizzi. Easing the blow is the big winnings check that accompanies the “shower.”

Another awesome Gator Cup was in the books! It takes an army of people to make something this big go this smoothly. Also, hats off and thanks to all of the industry sponsors who support these events. Finally, I can never say enough good things about the Quail Creek Plantation staff, both full-time and those brought in for this shoot work tirelessly to

GATOR CUP

HOA ZACHARY KIENBAUM 189 RU BRAD KIDD, JR 187 M1 ANTHONY I. MATARESE, JR 186 AA1 BRADLAN MCDONALD 172 A1 LUKE TRUSCOTT 165 B1 MAX PITCHER 160 C1 ISAAC MAIR 148 D1 GABE COLLINS 158 E1 PAUL MILES II 143 LADY DIANE SORANTINO 178 SUB JR BRAYDEN WOJCIESZAK 171 JR TODD HITCH 184 VET BILL MCGUIRE 184 SUP VET MALCOLM PARKER 179 SR SUP VET TOM SMITH 161 LEGACY DONALD LAMPUS 134 TOP THREE MAIN EVENT WINNERS - MATARESE JR. (M1), KIENBAUM (HOA) AND KIDD JR. RU

THE FANIZZI FAMILY PULLED OFF ANOTHER STELLAR EVENT

provide the guests with an amazing experience. n

Full scores are at www.winscoreonline.com

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