By Elizabeth A. Poe

Burlington, MA

The Minuteman Sportsmen's Club hosted over 40 shooters at the annual North Atlantic 12 & 20 on April 20th under perfect New England Spring shooting conditions: 70 degrees, sunny with little wind. The conditions were reflected in the high scores including a 200x200 by HOA CH Duke Vaillancourt and a 199 from Angelo Troisi (RU).

Duke's 2-Man team partner, Grumpy, had a few observations from the weekend. "Duke's strategy this weekend was to sidestep shoot-offs by posting a 200x. That way he has the lowest probability of an HOA shoot-off. Zone 1 shooters are a talented group and the scores from this shoot reflect that fact. At least there were no concerns from any Connecticut shooters - none participated."

Grumpy stretched his legs and continued. "If it wasn't for Steve Livingston, Duke would have had the clean sweep. But what can you do? Every so often some young upstart comes along looking for trouble. Steve joined Duke and Angelo on the shoot-off field in the 12Ga event with perfect scores. Before I knew what happened, my 2-man partner Duke was packing up his gun and Angelo was right behind him. Steve Livingston was declared 12Ga Champion, and he went on to win HOA B1st with a 199."

"Steve Livingston has really been on fire," observed Grumpy. "He won the 12 Ga. Event at the Flamingo last year and is a perennial champion at the New Hampshire State Shoot. I suspect that 2008 is going to be a great year for him in the winner's circle."

Other HOA class winners include George Maschino, Tom O'Donnell, Terry Poliquin, Dennis Coakley, LYCH Maureen Siemen, and Parent-Child Champions Charles and Matthew Grabski. Other noteworthy scores include a 99 from new shooter Zenos Markos and a brilliant 20Ga 98 by Goose Kanavos for TS1. The club would like to thank Art Zonghetti, Maureen Siemen, Russ Lebel, Bill Batty and the referees for contributing to making this a great annual event. Special thanks for to all shooters and referees who drove long distances to shoot this event.