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MARDELA SPRINGS – A sunny, warm morning, the challenge of competition and a worthy cause attracted over 100 sportsmen to the second annual Lucas Nagel Memorial Fund Sporting Clay Tournament on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025.
The event, held at Delmarva Sporting Clays & Rifle Range in Mardela Springs, fielded nearly 30 teams, each comprised of four shooters, who rounded a challenging course comprising a variety of stations, and finished in time for a lunch.
Most importantly, the event raised over $35,000 for the Fund, beating last year’s receipts.
The Lucas Nagel Memorial Fund for First Responders was founded by Milton and Tina Nagel of Federalsburg in memory of their son Lucas, an Army veteran and Caroline County sheriff’s deputy who lost his life in 2022.
A charitable fund to support mental health services for Caroline County first responders, the Fund is a component fund of Mid-Shore Community Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charity.
Delmarva Sporting Clays co-owner Stu Richardson donated the facility and orange clays. Lucas Nagel’s friend Connor Cooper was the catalyst who brought the Nagel and Richardson families together to create the fundraising event.
Milton Nagel said all of the sponsors for the first event in 2024 returned for the second event. Because Lucas was in the military and law enforcement, sponsor levels were named according to rank.
Volunteers and most competitors wore teal green shirts listing the sponsors. As he introduced the tourney, Milton Nagel thanked the sole Colonel sponsor, Preston Automotive Group, as well as Captain sponsors Bolton and Accutrench, and Lieutenant sponsors Focus Partners, Whitten Retirement, MJH Construction and WIN Transport.
For the second year, Preston Powersports in Easton donated the use of four side by sides. Maryland State Police cadets manned the shooting stations and threw clays. Ashley Nicole Photography took team photos. A roving beverage cart made the rounds of the stations.
Lucas Nagel’s brother J.T. Nagel and his wife Maddi were very involved in organizing and volunteering at the event. “Hopefully, it just keeps getting bigger and bigger,” he said.
Bolton sponsored a new venue, free coffee and cold brews from the Preston-based By Faith Coffee Company, owned by Destiny and Delvin Horst. “Business is very good,” Destiny Horst said. “We sold a bunch of coffee this morning.” Sportsmen visiting the truck also ordered apple butter and pumpkin pie lattes, she said. Bay Country Donuts in Cambridge donated boxes of the pastries.
Beth Brewster of Denton and her team of volunteers served up a lunch of hefty pulled barbecue chicken sandwiches, mac and cheese, coleslaw and other fixings. “Just to keep Lucas in everyone's memory, and what this does for our first responders, it's incredible,” Brewster said.
Along with the actual clay shoot, the event featured a silent auction and a drawing for a Beretta shotgun donated by Accutrench Contracting.
An extra station was added to provide a fun challenge in hand-throwing clays. John Harrison won first place, T.J. Lord, second, and Andrew Durham, third. Tolbert Rowe, who came in fourth, held out as the top clay thrower until he was finally bested by the top three.
The participants were reminded that the mission of the Fund is to increase awareness of the short- and long-term iimpacts of repeated exposure to traumatic events on the brain, specifically as they affect first responders; eliminate the stigma associated with that brain stress; and provide resources for Caroline first responders so that they can lead long, healthy lives.
“Over 80 percent of first responders experience traumatic events on the job, and roughly one in three first responders develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD),” according to www.lucasnagelfund.com. The importance of first responders’ recognizing threats to brain health and seeking help was emphasized by supporters of the Fund who attended the tourney.
Speaking briefly to participants was retired Ocean City police officer and dispatcher Vance Row, who is founder and teacher of Yoga Rescue. He also works with the Struggle Well posttraumatic growth training program and is organizing that training Oct. 2 at Chesapeake College, sponsored by the Lucas Nagel Memorial Fund and Channel Marker.
Cathy Cassell, CEO of Channel Marker, and her husband Marty Cassell, who serves as clinical director, attended the tourney to support the Nagel family and the Fund. “This family is amazing,” she said.
“The importance of self-care is just critical,” Cathy Cassell said, adding that she “cannot speak highly enough” about the Struggle Well program. “We say, ‘It's okay to not be okay,’ but I feel like we've got to push that next step.”
She said several providers banded together two years ago to form the 5-county Mid Shore Suicide Coalition to share resources, toolkits and documents. September is Suicide Awareness Month.
“How can we get more and more people to take (a) healthier path?” Marty Cassell said. “Because there's a lot of people in the community that care about our first responders and would do anything for our first responders.”
For more information about the Struggle Well training event 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 2, at Chesapeake College, visit www.chesapeake.edu/event/struggle-well.
Suicide Awareness Month is an opportunity for the Caroline community to become aware of resources and hotlines available at midshorebehavioralhealth.org/midshoresuicidecoalition/
