Sixteen-year-old Makayla Scott of White Sulphur Springs has been making headlines for her jaw-dropping performance in shotgun competitions across the country. Now, if all goes as planned, she’ll add Guinness Book of World Record holder to her long list of accolades.
Scott was recently selected as one of four rising competitive shotgun shooters to join the CZ-USA team aiming to break the world record for the number of clay targets broken by a team of five shooters in 12 hours. The current record of 4,602 clays was set by a United Kingdom team in 2005.
The fifth member of the team is David Miller, master class competitor, shotgun product manager, and exhibition shooter for CZ-USA. Miller currently holds the world record for breaking 3,653 clay targets in an hour. Other members of the team include Jessica Strasser from Wisconsin, Levi Henrich from Iowa, and Weston Zolck from Nebraska.
To be considered, Scott was required to participate in a qualifying shoot and write an essay about why she should be selected to represent the CZ-USA brand and carry the world record title. She qualified at the Scholastic Clay Target Association Nationals held in Marengo, Ohio in July and submitted her winning essay a month later. On Sept. 6, Miller announced live via social media that Scott along with three other shooters were selected to join him in a run for the world record.
Scott and fellow competitors will use the new CZ-USA 1012 shotgun for the stunt. In keeping with promotion of CZ-USA’s latest shotgun design, the attempt will take place at Powder Creek Shooting Park in Lenaxa, Kansas, on Saturday, Oct. 12, commencing at 10:12 a.m. and ending – hopefully in victory – at 10:12 p.m.
“I hope we break ten thousand targets. I’ll be surprised if we don’t. The math works out,” said Miller in his live announcement earlier this month.
Spectators are invited to be a part of history, and Powder Creek Shooting Park is making a full day of it. Food trucks and other vendors will be present. Attendees will also have an opportunity to try their hand at trap, skeet, sporting clays. CZ-USA will have a demo trailer on site.
“We’re all interested in seeing what’s going to happen between 10:12 and 10:12,” says Kevin Danciak general manager of Powder Creek Shooting Park.
As for Scott, she’s training harder than ever in anticipation of the big day. Prior to this opportunity, she already maintained a rigorous shooting schedule, but the chance to break a world record has upped the ante. She’s working on building the endurance she’ll need to shoot for a 12-hour stretch. This includes running, weightlifting and lots of gun mounts, basically using the gun as a weight, she explains.
