The Prior Lake trap shooting team earned a top-10 finish in the first-ever Minnesota State High School League state tournament.
The event was held June 14 at the Minneapolis Gun Club in Prior Lake with 24 programs competing in the team competition and 100 shooters in the individual tourney.
The Lakers were ninth in the team tourney with a score of 459. Buffalo won the title with a score of 489, followed by Monticello (483), St. Michael-Albertville (480), Holy Family (476), Wayzata (474), Lakeville South (472), St. Francis (468) and New Prague (463).
Other team scores: Coon Rapids (457), New Richland-H-E-G (456), Brainerd (455), Delano (454), Badger/Green Bush-Middle River (450), Worthington (448), Detroit Lakes (446), Kimball (440), Hermantown (438), Richfield/Holy Angels (423), Walker-Hackensack-Akeley (418), Brandon-Evansville (417), Wadena-Deer Creek (416), Zimmerman (413) and Hibbing (303).
Each team had five shooters representing it with all five counting in the overall standings. Each shooter shot four rounds of 25. Haleigh Lewis was the Lakers' top shooter with 95 out of 100 targets. Jack Engels finished with 94, followed by Blake Conrad (92), Chris Curry (90) and Gavin Willox (88).
The 24 teams in the tourney qualified based on their finish in their respective class at the Minnesota Clay Target League State Championships June 6-10 in Alexandria. Nine teams qualified from Class 1A, followed by five from Class 2A, four in Class 3A and three each from Class 4A and 5A.
Prior Lake finished second in Class 4A behind St. Michael-Albertville.
The individuals who qualified for state were made up of the top 100 shooters from the five-week regular season based on average targets hit out of 25. The qualifying range was 24.7 to 22.4.
In the state individual tourney, Prior Lake's highest finisher was Dave Singewald, who finished tied for 25th with a score of 93. Lewis finished tied for 36th at 92. Austin Warren, Cory Compton and Williox each tied for 63rd with 87s.
Trap shooters stand 16 feet behind the structure from which the targets are randomly thrown into the air within an arc of no less than 17 degrees and no more than 27 degrees either side of the center of the structure known as the trap house. Athletes, one by one, activate the machine that throws the clay targets with their voice.
This spring, there were 185 trap shooting teams in the state, along with 6,100 participants for all three levels - varsity, junior varsity and novice.
“One of our goals was to explore the potential assimilation of education-based competitions to enhance opportunities for students and member schools,” said Dave Stead, executive director of the MSHSL. “With the continuing success of the clay target league, this state tournament helps achieve our goals.”
Meanwhile, Dave Dingman has stepped down as the Lakers' coach. He's led the program since its inception five years ago. He also serves as the Minnesota State Trap Shooting Advisor for the Scholastic Clay Target Program.