Dragons Trap Shoot Results from Week 5

The Dragon Trap update from George Johnson.

Pine City High School Trap Shooting Team Competition Week 5.

The final week of competitive shooting for the Pine City Dragons Trap Shooting Team brought cool temperatures and light winds. Expectations were high as the team has racked up a total of 15 varsity shooters to go along with rapidly improving junior varsity and novice shooters. Sophomore Kaeden Oquist rose to the top of the day’s leader board, hitting 44 of 50 targets and shooting well above his average. Levi Kraft and Talen Reitan, who have been in the top group of shooters all season, followed closely behind with 42 hits. Evan Benolken continued his fine shooting with a 41. Fellow sophomore Austin Gariepy had a 39, tied with Owen Severson who had another outstanding week. Owen credited his remarkable improvement this season to eliminating distractions and increased focus. Senior Ryan Carl continued his consistent shooting with a 38. Rounding out the top ten for the Dragons were 5 athletes tied with 37: Bryer Berube, Colten Mohr, Collin Spinler, Henry Johnson, and Logan Minke. Senior Macie Babolik led the female shooters with a 35. When asked how shooting had changed for her since she first began shooting in junior high, she joked, “I shoot so much better now because I keep my eyes open.” Peyton Dickey followed her with a 28, a very good improvement from the previous week. This year the Dragons’ volunteer coaches have focused especially hard on helping several new and struggling shooters. “It’s all worth it when you see the smiles on their faces,” said Pat Carl, who has been running extra practice sessions each week to help kids improve. Eighth grader Everett Wilson more than doubled his score from the previous week, scoring a 26. Seventh grader Alec Anderson had a remarkable 36 hits. Several Dragons who were not able to shoot on Sunday will shoot their final competitive rounds at Thursday’s makeup session. Then final season averages will be posted by the league to determine what level the 30 state tournament entrants with compete at when they travel to Alexandria on Monday, June 16, for the state high school trap shooting tournament.