The Central Piedmont Sporting Clays Classic benefits the College's U.S. military veteran and first responder students and programs, and 2023 marked the 19th year of the event's history. The event was once again held at Meadow Wood Farm in Waxhaw, NC.
After a bit of a rain scare, the sky cleared up for a beautiful April day of sport, community, and conversation.
The College raised nearly $193K through the support of corporate sponsors, team registrations, raffle tickets, and donations. We are especially grateful for the support of our tournament sponsors: Piedmont Natural Gas (Clay Pigeon Challenge), Juneberry Ridge (First Responders Cup), and Concrete Supply and Rodgers (B.D. Rodgers Cup).
Almost 300 participants joined us for the day-long event featuring 17 stations including a Frenzy and a Flurry - which proved key in providing the tie-breaker for two of the tournaments. Our winners for the day's event are below:
B.D. Rodgers Cup: Individual
1st Place: Chris Dorton | 44 (Streak of 31)
2nd Place: Gerald Tucker | 44 (Streak of 17)
3rd Place: Page Tucker | 43
B.D. Rodgers Cup: Team Champion
Rodgers | 212: Taylor Miles, Jason Money, Paige Tucker, Gerald Tucker
Clay Pigeon Challenge: Individual
1st Place: Carter Loetz | 43 (Streak of 18)
2nd Place: Thomas Hovis | 43 (Streak of 17)
3rd Place: Tim Hileman | 42
Clay Pigeon Challenge: Team
1st Place: Pinnacle Financial | 205: Tim Hileman, Paul Cochrane, Greg Everhart, Lain Reavis
2nd Place: Warco Construction | 199: Thomas Hovis, Austin Claytor, Drew Rochester, TM
3rd Place: Piedmont Natural Gas | 177: Randy Bost, Jeremy Koster, Carl Peterson, Brad Holbrook
First Responders Cup: Individual
1st Place: William Wallis | 50
2nd Place: Mike Small | 45
3rd Place: Hunter Hampton | 44 (Streak of 22)
First Responders Cup: Team
1st Place: MEDIC | 223: William Wallis, John Gibson, Bill Ward, Janet Geradot
2nd Place: CMPD | 215 (Flurry 39): Curt Bell, Gene Rivera, Mark Smith, Bill Booth
3rd Place: CFD #1 | 215 (Flurry 32): Mike Small, Derek Alexander, Jason Cloninger, Mike Stroup
The two Janet Chernaga award winners were Deborah Edwards (morning) and Janet Gerdot (afternoon).
Over lunch, the guest speaker, Dale Thomas (pictured right), inspired the audience with his story of trials and triumphs. Dale Thomas served in the U.S. Army for four years as an Infantryman at Ft. Hood, Texas. He graduated from Central Piedmont last week with an Associate of Applied Science in Human Services Technology. Dale plans to utilize his education in Human Services to empower, advocate, and bring awareness to marginalized populations, such as helping those with disabilities and veterans. You can read more of his story here. We look forward to seeing how far he'll go!
We are so grateful to all those who supported this event, be it as a sponsor, a team, a volunteer, or a vendor. Thank you.
View pictures from this year's event here.
Stay tuned for information on how you can support the 20th-anniversary event.