100,000 targets in danger as 900 students expected for SD clay target state tournament
An estimated 100,000 clay targets will be shot at by more than 900 high school students competing in both skeet and trap shooting at the South Dakota High School Clay Target State Tournament this weekend.
The action starts today at the Aberdeen Gun Club south of town.
There will be competitors from across the state with more than 58 schools being represented in the fourth state tournament.
That's a far cry from the first year, where there were roughly 30 participants, said gun club President Jerry Brick.
“It’s been just growing and growing ever since. We did take a year off because of COVID, and so it wasn’t held for one year, and that kind of stifled us a little bit … Our growth kind of stopped the momentum, but it’s picking up again,” he said.
At the gun club, there are 13 trap houses, two skeet fields and a five-stand sporting clay field. Nearly all the facilities will be in use during the weekend, along with areas for practice. Brick said that the tournament is scheduled to stay in Aberdeen for at least the next three years.
The tournament is a part of the nationwide United States High School Clay Target League. The league in South Dakota is not sanctioned by the high school activities association, but shooting considered a club sport.
Regular season winners of the league have already been determined. Winner-Colome’s Katie Welker had the season-best average of 24.7 in trap. In skeet, Stanley County’s Wyatt Mortenson had the season-best average of 23.7 in trap.
Girls, boys compete against each other
“The great thing about this is that everybody gets to shoot, whether it’s boys, girls … It makes no difference. We’ve had girls that have come in and just cleaned out boys. It’s a great competition and, honestly, nobody gets hurt, so it’s all good, clean, fair competition,” Brick said.
In the regular season, competitions are virtual. Teams shoot at targets at gun clubs and the scores are turned into the league office. The league is also offering virtual state tournament events such as sporting clays and five stand.
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In five stand, the clay targets are released from five different stations on the field.
At the tournament, each participant will shoot at 100 targets, with the highest scores winning, Brick said.
Five Aberdeen area schools compete at gun club
Five local high schools shoot at the Aberdeen Gun Club, including Warner, Groton, Aberdeen Christian, Aberdeen Roncalli and Aberdeen Central, with those teams ranging from roughly 20 to 40 participants.
Brick said the competition is focused mainly on bragging rights and having a good time.
“This whole thing is just for the kids to have fun. Going out there and trying to win the competition is probably the last part of the deal. But it’s just safety, fun and providing a competitive atmosphere for the kids to compete against each other,” Brick said.
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He said he expects the state event to draw between 1,000 to 1,500 people each day. On Today, skeet shooting will start at 11:30 a.m. There will be no trap events. On Saturday and Sunday, the trap events will start at 8 a.m., with the competition lasting all day. Roughly 400 kids are scheduled to shoot each day.
The Aberdeen Gun Club is at 38574 139th St. That is on the west side U.S. Highway 281 just south of town.
This article originally appeared on Aberdeen News: Clay Target State Tournament south dakota high school
