Tompkins Weekly

Newfield’s trapshooting phenom



Newfield’s Chase Wojtanik reloads his rifle during a July trapshooting competition in Cicero. Wojtanik placed first in the Sub-Junior Grand American competition this year in Missouri. Photo provided.

While many other sports have been halted to the COVID-19 pandemic, Newfield’s Chase Wojtanik (woe-tan-ick) has been honing his craft and collecting accolades. Wojtanik is a 15-year-old trapshooter who recently won the Grand American zone doubles category in Missouri last month, hitting 98 out of 100 targets. As a result, he was named the captain of the All-American Sub-Junior team.

What makes his achievements even more impressive is that he’s only been shooting for two years. He initially picked it up after his grandfather took him shooting on a whim one day, and the rest is history. Wojtanik explained that he wouldn’t be where he is without the support of those around him.

“I would contribute that early success to mostly my family — obviously my dad and mom because they’re putting all that money, time and effort to take me to the shoots, make sure I have shells and all that, everybody that’s coached me through the way and people that take me to shoots that my mom dad can’t make it to,” he said. “[I get] a lot of help from friends that I shoot with.”

Having all that support on his path is very reassuring for Wojtanik, as he hopes to one day compete in the Olympics.

“It’s really calming,” Wojtanik said. “You can go 100 miles away from home and know that you’re basically with your family. It’s calming knowing that they wanted to help me through my career and my future dreams.”

He’s coming off the aforementioned competition in Missouri that took him very far away from home, which was a growing experience for Wojtanik.

“It’s really nice knowing that I can travel that far,” Wojtanik said. “Yeah, I’m a long ways away from home and it did bother me, but it was nice being somewhere else shooting, getting to see different backgrounds and different birds and stuff like that.”

That trip to Missouri was incredibly beneficial, as Wojtanik won the Grand American doubles competition in his sub-junior category. A few months before the competition, he couldn’t imagine reaching those heights in 2020.

“At the beginning of the year, I only had the goal of top 10, and I just said, ‘Let’s go. We’ll just go to as many shoots as we can. I’ll just shoot my best and do what I can do,’” Wojtanik said. “Halfway through the year, I was shooting good enough to put myself in the top three and thought, ‘All right, I can do better than that.’ I pushed and practiced every day. Even when I was not shooting, I was doing gun movements and flick mounting the gun making sure it feels right. That work paid off.”

Wojtanik recalled the first time he went shooting with his grandfather. It was a far cry from where he’s at now, which is a testament to his hard work.

“One day, I was working with my grandpa and he said, ‘Hey, let’s go to the range at the local club and we’ll shoot,’” Wojtanik said. “We went there, and I shot maybe a seven out of 50, which is not good at all, and I was just like, ‘This is fun.’ Over time, I got better and better, got a different gun, shot even better, [and] then there was no looking back. My goal was just to never miss, and that was not going to happen, but that made me push myself to go farther.”

Once he started shooting with the Cayuga Lake League, which is based in Tompkins County, Wojtanik knew he could go places in trapshooting.

“I won the juniors [in the Cayuga Lake League], and everybody was trying to recruit me for the FLAT League,” Wojtanik said. “The year after that, all the teams were trying to get me to join them. I figured, ‘Hey, I can probably do something with this.’”

Looking ahead, Wojtanik said he wants to increase all his average scores by “one or two birds” by next year. Being able to practice and compete in these conditions to stay at that high level is a definite positive of the journey Wojtanik is on.

“It’s really nice because you can go out and practice and know that you’re going to still be competing instead of practicing real hard and then not being able to compete to figure out where your ability is,” Wojtanik said. “So, I was really grateful that we were allowed to keep going.”

The pandemic did not slow down Wojtanik’s growth as a shooter, fortunately. Up next for him will be a competition in Syracuse in the coming weeks to start the junior portion of his career.

3 responses to “Newfield’s trapshooting phenom”

  1. Pete terwillegar says:

    I grew up with dad and uncle rodney and also love to shoot guns and bows your grandpa and them love the outdoors and there’s doubt that one day you will be the best. Awsome job

  2. Awesome job Chase! Gram and papa are very proud of you. And always will be!!

  3. Buzz Oakley says:

    Congrats Chase, I know your family is very proud of you. You are a very impressive young man, keep up the good work. Ease up on Grandpa (you know what I mean). Best of luck moving forward…

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