By Dawn Walker

More than 1,600 of the highest qualified student athletes throughout all affiliated state high school clay target leagues competed for the right to be called a National Champion at the US High School Clay Target League National Championships in Mason, Michigan July 7th – 11th. Sixteen Hastings Raiders (5 female/11 male) competed against students from California, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Hastings qualified two five people squads to shoot in the team competition against 158 other teams. On day one of the team competition Squad One consisting of Brennen Kieffer, Luke Nadeau, Brock Mosher Gavin Smith and Noah Woodward finished the qualifying rounds in 34th place with 461 points (highest to lowest scores 98/97/95/88/83 out of 100) earning them a spot in finals. Squad Two consisting of Carter Bauer, Amelia Clark, McKayla Kielas, Adam McCallum and Jaidyn Schutz finished the qualifying rounds in 109th place with 432 points (highest to lowest scores 92/91/90/86/73 out of 100). The top 80 teams qualified for team finals resulting in Squad One shooting another 100 targets at finals with 472 points (96/95/94/94/93 highest to lowest scores ) for an accumulative total of 933 out of 1000, finishing in 17th place overall out of 160 teams total.

On day one of the individual competition 16 athletes represented Hastings shooting 100 targets each competing against 1,684 others as follows: Adam McCallum 95 in 215th place, Luke Nadeau 95 in 216th place, Gavin Smith 95 in 242nd place, Brennen Kieffer 94 in 334th place, Brock Mosher 93 in 363rd place, Noah Woodward 92 in 458th place, Tanner Lamb 91 in 533rd place, Carter Bauer 90 in 672nd place, Ben McKinney 88 in 826th place, Amelia Clark 86 in 975th place, Tim Peine 85 in 1043rd place, Emily Heinbuch 81 in 1276th place, McKayla Kielas 81 in 1297th place, Jaidyn Schutz 77 in 1426th place, Kaitlyn Schutz 76 in 1464th place and Cameron McDonald 71 in 1581st place.

The top 400 individuals qualified for individual finals resulting in five Hastings males shooting another 100 targets at finals as follows: Brennen Kieffer 98 for a total of 192 out of 200 in 99th place overall, Adam McCallum 95 for a total of 190 out of 200 in 195th place overall, Brock Mosher 96 for a total of 189 out of 200 in 206th place overall, Luke Nadeau 94 for a total of 189 in 207th place and Gavin Smith 93 for a total of 188 out of 200 in 245th place At nationals several athletes shot straights earning them national patches. July 9th during team qualifying rounds Carter Bauer 25, Brennen Kieffer 25, Luke Nadeau 25, Gavin Smith 25 and Noah Woodward 25. July 10th during individual qualifying rounds Brennen Kieffer 25, Tanner Lamb 25, Adam McCallum 25, Brock Mosher 25, Luke Nadeau 25 and Gavin Smith 25. July 11th during team/individual finals Brennen Kieffer 25/25/50, Brock Mosher 25/25, Gavin Smith 25 and Noah Woodward 25.

Congratulations on a job well done to all sixteen athletes that represented Hastings at Nationals. Upon return to MN the team received a Facebook message from a WI team commending us for the many times they saw multiple Raiders wishing other shooters good luck and for picking up shells that were not ours. He went on to say how wonderful it was to see and how it was a great reflection of good parenting and coaching. He also gave a shout out to senior captain Noah Woodward for talking with one of their 8th grade shooters just before shooting, noting how their shooter said it made him so much more comfortable. The message ended with a way to go Hastings trap team, this is what the sport is all about.

Brennen Kieffer not only helped his team do well, but he finished 99th overall with a score of 192/200. Photo courtesy of Dawn Walker