The Pennsylvania State Shoot is one of the largest trapshooting championships in the country, and for nine days in June the PSSA Homegrounds in Elysburg belonged to the sport’s most dedicated competitors. When the smoke cleared, Team Krieghoff shooters had collected a stack of trophies, a piece of history and a pair of Hall of Fame jackets.
This year’s competition ran from June 13-21, hosted by the Pennsylvania State Shotgunning Association. Before the state shoot proper even got underway, Team Krieghoff was already filling the trophy case at the annual Colonial Classic. Wesley Beaver took the All Around Championship there with a 389, while Joseph Breck earned the Junior Gold title, Michael Blaisdell secured the Veteran crown and Deborah Ohye Neilson claimed Lady 2. Those same four shooters repeated across the AIM High Overall results, with Beaver adding the Class AAA title to go alongside Breck's Junior Gold, Blaisdell’s Veteran and Neilson’s Lady 2.
The signature moment came during the Krieghoff Handicap, one of the event’s marquee competitions. The match drew 828 competitors, every one of them chasing a brand-new K-80 Trap Special. Once the handicap wrapped, the field narrowed in dramatic fashion. Competitors whose scores ended in the lucky numbers 2 or 5, drawn at random, advanced to the Krieghoff Challenge shoot-off. That left 147 shooters on the line.
What followed was a war of attrition. After the opening 10-target round, just 15 shooters remained without dropping a bird. The pressure kept building until three finalists were left standing. Clare Schaffer, Joseph Bowers and Nathan Brandenberger each ran a perfect 10 in Round 3 to force a decisive final. Bowers and Brandenberger both broke 9 of 10 when it mattered most, leaving the door open. Schaffer, of Newtown, Pennsylvania, walked through it with a perfect 10 to claim the 2026 Krieghoff Challenge title and the new K-80 Trap Special.
Her win carried weight beyond the trophy. Schaffer became only the second woman to win the Krieghoff Challenge in the event’s 22-year history, joining Devi Rathod, who won in 2007. In a discipline where the margins are measured in single targets and the field runs into the hundreds, breaking a drought that long is no small thing.
Team Krieghoff shooters kept the momentum going through the championship events. Ian Darroch of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, won the Resident High Overall trophy with a score of 1039. Joining him in the resident winner’s circle were Joseph Breck as Resident Junior Gold Champion, Frank Pascoe as Resident Senior Veteran Champion and Deborah Ohye Neilson as Resident Lady 2 Champion, while Michael Blaisdell took the Non-Resident Veteran title. Beaver, meanwhile, added the Resident All Around trophy with a 384.
Away from the line, a Krieghoff factory gunsmith worked on-site all week, handling annual service, repairs and adjustments so competitors could keep their guns running through the long schedule. Demo guns were on hand as well for anyone curious to put a Krieghoff through its paces.
The week’s most meaningful moment had nothing to do with a scorecard. Don Neilson, Jr., and Deborah Ohye Neilson were inducted into the Pennsylvania Trapshooting Hall of Fame, an honor recognizing decades of dedication, leadership and contribution to the sport. Between their accomplishments on the range and their lasting influence on the shooting community, Don and Debbie have helped shape Pennsylvania trapshooting and inspired a generation of shooters coming up behind them.
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