NRHEG, Medford Shooters Excel at State Trap Tournament
The field of competitors at the Minnesota State High School League trap shooting championships was extremely tough. Chancellor Olson or NRHEG and Cole Volkmann each shot 96-out-of-100 clay targets yet only tied for 42nd place.
Five shooters accomplished a perfect 100-for-100 score. Fourteen more shooters hit 99. Twelve shooters only missed twice, while ten more had just three misses. Olson and Volkmann along with approximately 100 other shooters qualified for the state competition based on their regular season scores.
The five-way tie for the individual championship included the returning champ, Woodrow Glazer of New Prague. Garrett Mourning and Kyle Dupont from the state team champion St. Michael-Albertville had perfect scores. Benjamin Sladek of Tri-City United and Jake Mader of Annandale also hit all 100 targets.
Among the southern Minnesota shooters that hit 99 clay pigeons were Shane Ives of Winona, Grant Fogerty fro TCU and Cole Dack of Northfield. Shelby Fritz from Elk River was the highest scoring female, also hitting 99 targets. Trap shooting is a co-ed sport.
In team competition, STMA shot 491/500 to repeat as the state champs. Owatonna finished in 17th place in their first appearance at state, while in just their second year of a varsity program. Joe Earl and Jon Klecker scored 97. Josh Kiefer and Thomas Earl shot 93. Joe Edel had 91. Weston Wilson was the alternate for the Huskies.
The team and individual tournaments were held separately, but both at Minneapolis Gun Club in Prior Lake Friday.
The Minnesota State High School League began sanctioning a trap shooting tournament in 2012, becoming the first high school association in the nation to do so. This year trap shooting teams represent 349 schools with over 12,000 participants.