Young shooter Matt Schiller has become just the second person in 22 years to win the prestigious King of the Mount shoot held by the Bathurst Clay Target Club at Mount Panorama on the weekend.
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Schiller took out the 2012 title after shooting 368 of a possible 375 targets and his accuracy was every bit as good again this year, missing just nine of 425 targets as he went on to win the event by two shots.
Former Bathurst competitor Peter Grahame is the only other one to have won two titles, taking his first in 1999 and four years later took out his second but Schiller is the first one to win consecutive trophies.
The 19-year-old said he was very excited to make it two in a row and left no doubt that he would come back and try to become the first person to win the title three times.
“It was a fantastic event and great to get another win,” Matt said.
“The competition was pretty strong and it was pretty tight to only win by two,” he said.
“I sure will be back. I think when you win an event you really have to go back and try to defend your title. I didn’t realise that I was the first one to win back-to-back titles.”
Last year was a ground breaking one for Schiller as he won countless titles and was named in the Australian team to compete at the World Clay Target Shooting Championships in Wales, where he won a gold medal and came back as a junior world champion.
“Winning at Bathurst last year really kick started things for me. It’s the first event of the year after two or three months off so winning it is a great way to begin,” he said.
“The two highlights of last year for me were being named in the Australian team and then winning the junior world championship - they were fantastic honours.”
Schiller received another honour last month when he was named Young’s Australia Day Senior Sportsperson of the Year.
“That was very good. Shooting isn’t really a mainstream sport, a lot of people don’t like the idea of shooting but hopefully recognition like that can help paint the sport in a more positive way,” Schiller said.
One of the biggest moments of the 2013 Bathurst title was fought between Schiller and another of his AA grade opponents.
The pair easily cleared the 50 target double barrel shoot and then entered into a shoot off.
They went on to shoot another 122 each in succession before the failing light led to the challenger missing one, handing Schiller the double barrel title, as well as the overall award.
Darrell Reed took out the 75 target Champion of Champions event, while former King of the Mount Gary Rootes won the 25 target single barrel and Glenn McAllister the 50 target point score.
Bathurst Clay Target Club publicity officer John Morgan said Schiller was a deserving double champion.
“He was in excellent form to win both the overall award and the prestigious double barrel title, which went into the night before it was decided,” Morgan said.
“Glen McAllister was another who did extremely well, managing to finish with 150 out of 150 on the 50 target pointscore.
“The weather on Sunday was quite windy, which made it chellenging for the single barrel events but the competitors managed it extremely well.
“It was another successful event for the club and was well supported by the other clubs around the region.”