Even on a cold day, ORA President Mark Vaughan, and the outreach team met up with Michael Gates from Marlow to shoot a little trap. Mark met Michael at a meeting with affiliate club, SCRAP in Duncan. When we heard Michael’s story and accomplishments, we were excited to find an Oklahoma youth making his mark in the world of trap.
Without further ado, we’re going to introduce you to Michael through a bio that he sent our way. However, stay tuned in the days ahead as the ORA follows Michael’s journey through the shooting sports as a high school sophomore.
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I am 16 years old and attend Marlow High School. I have maintained a 95% average or better in all my classes last year as a freshman, as well as this year. I am also in the gifted and talented program. Some of my other interests include duck hunting, cross country and spending time with my family. In addition to shooting trap competitively through ATA, I also shoot sporting clays, trap and 4-stand for Marlow FFA and 4H.
I started shooting and registering targets through the ATA in 2022, but really started to shoot competitively in 2023. My first competitive year, I mainly shot in OK, TX and KS. For the 2024 year, I set a goal for myself to earn enough points to qualify for the ATA All American Team. I shot in multiple states including AZ, NM, IL, AR, KS, OK, Iowa and TX. I shot in 177 events and registered 17,650 targets in the 2024 season, winning over 50 trophies. To date, I have registered over 27,000 targets. Listed below are the targets shot for the specific events and my averages for the 2024 shooting year.
- Singles – 6,950 targets; 97.01% avg
- Handicap – 5,400 targets; 88.65% avg
- Doubles – 5,300 targets; 89.38% avg
Trophies
- Southwestern Grand in Kansas – Jr Handicap champion
- KS State class B doubles (non resident)
- KS State class B High All Around (non resident)
- OK State – shot my first 100 and 200 straight and was the Jr singles champion and junior handicap champion
- Multi-state Jr singles champion
- AR State preliminary handicap champion (non resident)
- AZ State class A singles champion (non resident)
- NM State Junior singles champion (non resident)
- NM State Junior doubles champion (non resident)
Trophies at the Grand American
- Winchester 500 singles – shot 499/500
- Winchester class singles – Class AA runner up; shot 199/200
- NRA singles – 3rd Jr shot 200/200
- Class B World Doubles
- Champion Champion of Champions – 100/100 singles Jr Champion **To qualify for this event, you must win championship singles or win your category at your home state shoot
- Jr World Clay Target Champion shot 200/200 plus 349 in shoot off
Other Accomplishments
- Shot 100/100 3 times in the 2024 season
- Shot 200/200 3 times in the 2024 season
- I started the shooting year in Class A for singles, Class D for Doubles and the 21.5 yd line for Handicap. By the end of the shooting year, I moved to Class AA for singles, Class A for Doubles and 27 yd line in Handicap. (the 27 yd line is the farthest shooting distance in handicap)
- 2024 OK State Team SubJr
- 2025 OK State Team Jr 2025 ATA 2nd team All American
- Shot 998/1000 singles at the 2024 Grand American