BETHALTO - For students of Civic Memorial High School, participating in more than one sport and a number of clubs is not a far stretch from reality.
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For senior Dillon Lawrence, however, this has simply become second nature.
The son of Donnie Lawrence and Starla Laper of Bethalto, Dillon’s love of shooting was sparked from a very young age.
“One of my buddies used to go trap shoot,” he said. “I thought it was really cool since I shot guns. One day, I went to practice with him and fell in love with it.”
Joining John Yates and his group of young amature trap shooters at the Brittany Youth Shooting Group of Bunker Hill, he participated in the Scholastic Clay Target Program and became a member of the Amatuer Trapshooting Association.
“After competing in state and national competitions, we developed a pretty good team and I won multiple state titles,” Lawrence said. “I decided that I wanted to focus on my individual shooting, so my grandfather and I began travelling and participating in competitions by myself.”
The demands of shooting began to press on Lawrence’s mentality. Searching for something new, he decided it was time to try something completely different; joining the CM football team.
Lawrence used his unbreakable spirit and skills as a fullback and defensive linemen in his first and only season to assist his team into the playoffs.
“We ended up having a great season this year with Coach Justin Winslow,” Lawrence said.
As soon as the football season ended, he had to shift into a totally different mentality and opposing training regimens to be on the school’s wrestling team. Since joining the team as a freshman, Lawrence has worked diligently to improve upon his wrestling skills under the leadership of head coach Chad Young, whose program breeds excellent athletes.
“This season may be kind of tough, since we have a lot of young kids and we don’t have our studs anymore,” Lawrence said. “But, Coach Young is a great coach and I think he will get us ready for our season.”
With his spring graduation date crawling closer and closer, Lawrence recently received some excellent news. Next fall, he will be attending Lindenwood University. At the private college in St. Charles, Lawrence hopes to further pursue his trapshooting skills and his love of biochemistry.
“Coach Yates’ daughter Courtney went to Lindenwood on a shooting scholarship,” he said. “Since I was always pushed to being the best I could be shooting wise and academically, I found out that Lindenwood would be a great opportunity for me.”
If studying biochemistry doesn’t work out, Lawrence has also considered following in his father’s footsteps and joining the military.
“The Army has an amazing shooting team and joining that would be my ultimate goal,” he said.
Although all of Lawrence’s hard work and determination should be attributed to himself, he says that owes everything to his coach John Yates.
“I would really like to say thank you to John Yates. He really stepped up as a coach and taught me me how to become a better shooter and a better person.”
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