Jaxson Wilson

Newton Community High School senior and competitive trapshooter Jaxson Wilson has a singular focus.

“I’m actually trying to make a run at the All-American team,” he says, as he reveals the preparatory steps he is taking to reach that lofty goal.

A member of the NCHS team since his freshman year, he is also a part of the Blaze Orange Young Sporting Club, which travels to more shoots than the school team does. On top of that, he travels on his own to compete in Amateur Trapshooting Association events all over the Midwest. In order to make the All-American team, a shooter must be ranked in the top 25 out of around 4,000 competitors. Rank is determined by the number of points scored at ATA-sponsored events – the more points scored, the higher your rank. Last year, Jaxson came up a little short, ranking 52nd. But this year, he is hopeful that he will make the cut.

The sport of trapshooting is split into three disciplines, all of which Jaxson shoots. In Singles, the shooter stands sixteen yards away from the center of the trap house and shoots at random targets that are launched at various angles in front of him. Doubles is a more difficult variation on Singles, where the shooter must break two targets fired simultaneously from the right and the left, before they hit the ground. The aim of Handicap shooting is to make the competition more equal by having the more skilled competitors shoot from further away from the trap house. A shooter’s handicap is determined by his past performance, and someone with a high handicap will shoot from no closer than the 18-yard line, while an extremely skilled competitor will be placed at the 27-yard line, from which winning an event is extremely difficult.

After high school, Jaxson plans to pursue a career in civil engineering, or in an agriculture-related field. Whichever path he chooses, it will most likely begin at Lake Land College. The reasoning behind this decision is twofold: First, it is less costly to take the general education requirements at Lake Land than it would be at a four-year school. Second, Lake Land has a trapshooting team, of which Jaxson hopes to be a part.

For now, though, he is doing what he can at NCHS to prepare himself for that next step. He is taking Vocational Shop classes this year, and says, “I’m trying to get all the ag classes that I can. I’m also in Ag Business.”

And after college? He is already feeling the pull of the Wilson family farm, near Olney. Although its original date of purchase is unknown, it has been in the Wilson family for over one hundred years, earning it the distinction of being recognized as an Illinois Centennial Farm. “We’ve got some ground we’ll make sure we don’t ever get rid of, because ever since they’ve started keeping track of it, it’s been in the Wilson name,” he says proudly. He believes that his future career might prevent him from working that land as his sole job, but still wants to be involved in whatever capacity he can. “I think I’ll be able to do it,” he says. “I just won’t be able to do it for a full-time job.”

Jaxson has met people from all over the country, and all over the world, at the many shoots he has competed in. “I’ve met a bunch of friends through trapshooting,” he says. The broader perspective and greater understanding of others that this experience has given him have also helped him to appreciate his own community in new ways. “It’s a small town, everybody knows you. When you know everybody, you’ve always got somebody there to help you if you’re in a bind,” he relates. It’s a familiar refrain, but only because it is so undeniably true. And whether Jaxson returns to the family farm or strikes out on his own for parts yet unknown, he will always carry a bit of that spirit with him.