Pinewood Christian Academy’s (PCA) Rich Pazderski signed on Thursday, March 9, 2022, to compete on the Georgia Southern University (GSU) Clay Target Team for the 2022-2023 season.
Pazderski, a senior at PCA, is one of the top all-around high school clay target shooters in America. He is a National Sporting Clays Association (NSCA) Master Class shooter and 2022 NSCA Krieghoff Junior All-American Team member.
He will join the team in the Fall of 2022. Pazderski shoots all clay target disciplines at a very high level and has shot multiple 100 straight rounds in sporting clays.
He has State, Regional, and National Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) and Georgia Independent School Association (GISA) titles to his credit. He was also named to the 2020 All Scholastic Team for the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation (SSSF). He is also a member of the 2021-2022 NSCA Krieghoff Junior All-American team.
In 2021, he was the High Over All (HOA) Runner-up at the SCTP National Clay Target Championship while posting a great 589/600 score (200 American Skeet, 200 American Trap, 200 Sporting Clays). Ironically, he finished second overall behind current GSU shooter and future teammate, true freshman Ross Wilson.
The PCA Clay Target Team won the GISA AAA State Championship in 2020 and 2021, with Pazderski being the AAA Class High Over All shooter. He is also one of the top guns on the 2020 and 2021 SCTP National Champion Forest City Gun Club Juniors team.
As a senior member of the FCGC Juniors, Pazderski led the team to numerous state and national awards including back to back National SCTP Championships for 2020-2021.
When asked about the Eagles’ newest member, GSU Coach Fischer commented, “I seek out the top athletes and then talk with my team. I look for shooters who will be a good fit and an asset to a team, because this team is a family. When I asked them about Rich, they all said 100% ‘get this guy’. We are more than blessed that GSU is Rich’s choice. He is a wonderful young man, extremely mature for his age, he’s a hell of a shot.”
Pazderski is the son of Richie Pazderski and Sandy (Burkhalter) Pazderski and the grandchildren of Jerry and Faye Burkhalter of Glennville and and Andy and Teresa Anderson of Brunswick. He has one sister, Abi Pazderski, who is a sophomore and also competes with the PCA Clay Target Team.