For the second straight season, the Prior Lake trap shooting team is the top target.

The Lakers won their second straight Class 9A title June 20 at the Minnesota High School Clay Target League State Championships at Alexandria Shooting Park.

Prior Lake scored 491 team points, five better than runner-up Rosemount. Owatonna was third (480), followed by Sibley East (479), Foley (477), New London-Spicer (474), St. Peter and Farmington (471), Northfield (468), Hermantown (467), Norwood Young America (463), New Ulm (460), Hastings (459) and Nicolett (452).

Prior Lake also tied for the top team score from all nine classes with Benson and Alexandria. A perfect team score is 500.

Benson and Alexandria competed in Class 6A with Benson winning the title in a tiebreaker.

The Lakers also had the highest individual shooter in Class 9A. That honor went to Will Johnson, who hit 99 out of a possible 100 targets. Johnson was the state runner-up last year.

“It means everything to me,” Johnson told outdoornews.com after the competition. “I started shooting shotguns when I was 6 years old with my uncle at my farm, so it was always one of those things. I went out one time (for the team) and I was hooked.”

Prior Lake had four in the top 10. Cole Krueger finished overall, also hitting 99 targets. Joseph Coleman and Parker Erickson both tied for sixth hitting 98 targets.

Tying for 11th with a score of 97 for Prior Lake were Peyton Happe, Weston Thompson and Jason Rusch. Jacob Johnson, Michael Bremer, Greyson Thompson and Greyson Betzold tied for 18th with score of 96.

Other Lakers who hit 90 or more targets included Will Nyhus and Garrison Worthen (T28th, 95), Elijah Doelz and Matthew Fashant (T38h, 94), Connor Richards and Titus Jacobson (T51st, 93), Carter Haack, Alexander Moeller and Gavin Pahl (T61st, 92), Derek Tupy (T79th, 91) and Trigg Shrader, Maverick Nevin, Austyn Nelson 90, Jack Bredesen and David Heitkamp (T106th, 90).

In the girls individual competition, Violet Legare led Prior Lake tying for sixth overall with 92 out of 100 targets hit. Samantha McDonald and Isabella McDonald both tied for ninth place (91).

In the boys junior varsity division, Gavin Ruprecht nearly earned a state title for the Lakers taking second overall with a score of 95.

State Skeet

Prior Lake also competed in the MHSCTL State Skeet Championships June 22 and for the second straight season finished second behind Wayzata.

Competing in Class 2A, the Lakers finished with 478, five behind the Trojans. New Prague ended up third (463), followed by Spring Lake Park (456), Sibley East (430), Hastings (427), Anoka (425) and Princeton (410).

Greyson Thompson led the Lakers taking third in the boys competition. He hit 98 out of 100 targets. Doelz and Bremer both tied for fifth (96), while Johnson ended up tied for eighth (95).

Tying for 13th for Prior Lake were Happe, Betzold, Erickson and Rusch (93), while Evan Schaible tied for 21st (91).

Samantha McDonald led the Laker girls taking fourth overall with 90 targets hit.