Here's an look at how the Dragons trap shoot team did at state from Coach Johnson.
Blue skies, temperatures in the low 90’s, and winds gusting to 22 mph greeted 28 Pine City High School state participants as they gathered early in the morning on June 20th to compete in Class 9A of the Minnesota State Clay Target Championship. The fifteen Minnesota high schools with the largest trap shooting teams were represented at the shooting range in Alexandria.
The team walked away with a first place finish in the Novice Division and a third place finish in the Junior Varsity Division. In an absolutely dominating performance against 169 competitors, the Novice team was led by senior Madisson LeMon and eighth grader Austin Gariepy, who both tied for second with scores of 88 out of 100 targets. Continuing the Dragon domination on the leaderboard were Armani Johnson and Nate Burns tied for fourth with 87’s, and then Gianni Johnson, Kaeden Oquist, Josh Brinker and Talen Reitan with 84’s. Tristen Firth shot an 82 and Caleb Johnson a 78, followed by Hailey Houle with 77. Pine City Dragon athletes’ names appeared in 9 of the first 15 slots in the competition.
In the Junior Varsity Division with 231 competitors, the Dragon team finished in third place. Junior Zach Watts, who led the team in the day’s scoring, finished 6th by hitting a remarkable 91 out of 100 targets. Sophomore Ryan Carl tied for 8 th place with a 90, followed by Evan Doenz and Colten Mohr with 89’s. Ethan Doenz and Mason LeMon tied with 84 hits each, and Tyler Mohr scored an 83. Individual awards went to Madisson LeMon for first place in the Female Novice Division, 4 targets ahead of her nearest competitor. Austin Gariepy’s score earned second place in the Male Novice category, followed by Armani Johnson in third place with an 87. Zach Watts earned a patch for hitting 25 straight targets.
Coach Ike Isaacson commented, “These kids shot unbelievable in Alexandria today.” Everyone of the 28 athletes representing Pine City shot above their season average. Caleb Johnson was 48 points over his season average, while Nate Burns and Owen Severson were both 46 points above theirs. On average, Dragons shot 30 points above their individual season averages. Most of the shooters credited a large part of their improvement to not having to shoot in the snow, rain, and wind that characterized early season competitions. Madisson LeMon, shooting in her final competition for the Dragons, said, “It’s awesome to start from 4 years ago through my whole career thinking ‘I was like that,’ and watching the younger kids and seeing them grow like I did.” Hailey Houle, also a senior, commented, “The coaches were very supportive. They make it a fun activity. The state tournament is definitely competitive, but they make it fun and their expectations make it adventurous.” Coach Anna Rydberg added, “It was fun to see the kids shoot so well in the heat, and amazing to see so many parents, grandparents, and relatives show up to support the team.” The trap team is so grateful for the support of the radio station, Pine City Community Education, and the community. All individual results of all the athletes are available at www.claytargetleaderboard.com.
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