The Crookston Pirate Clay Target Team competed in the USA Clay Target Minnesota State Championship for Class 4A teams. This is the league championship, to which every shooter is invited. The league championship results determine which teams will fill the 40 spots and advance to the Minnesota State High School League championship. The top three teams from each of the nine classes automatically advance, with the final 13 determined by the 13 remaining teams over the nine-day championship.
For the Crookston Clay Target Team on Thursday, it was a mostly sunny day with mild temperatures and a little windy day. All in all, a good day to shoot. “We had 17 students attend the championship,” said Coach Randy Prudhomme. “ We had a younger team with a majority of the team being sophomores. With the younger team, it did not feel like they were missing any experience, and they were there to shoot and have some fun. The kids did great.”
The team was led by Jaron Knutson, who shot an 89 out of 100, and Allison Abeld shot an 87 out of 100. “Both of them started shooting great above their average, with missing only 2 to 3 birds per round in the beginning,” said Coach Prudhomme. “They both were on track to get their first 25 straight, but they both fell short, with each finishing the season with a 24. It was exciting to watch them both.” With those scores Alison placed 11th out of 44 for Varsity Female with the top gun scoring 93. Jaron tied for 85th out of 370, with the top gun going to a shootout, with two scoring a perfect 100.
Overall, the team placed 26th out of 38 teams for class 4A.
OTHER PIRATE TEAM LEADERS-
Novice Male Axl Page shooting 60 out of 100, placing 50th out of 107.
Novice Female Ella Capistran shooting 57 out of 100, placing 23rd out of 50
JV Male Ivan Luckow shooting 82 out of 100, placing 21st out of 216
JV Female Addisyn Schiller shooting 73 out of 100, placing 19th out of 44
Overall, for Thursday alone, there were 38 teams with approximately 830 students shooting. With practice rounds and shootouts, there were approximately 90,000 trigger pulls by students ranging from 7th through 12th grade, and not a single injury was reported.
Each year, the Minnesota High School USA Clay Target League Championship is the world’s largest shooting sports event. There are also approximately 12,000 students in Minnesota who participate in Clay Target shooting, making it one of the largest sports in the state. Minnesota is also the only state that offers an additional tournament championship in addition to the league championship. Since the league started in 2008, there has not been an injury, making this the safest High School Sport.
As a team, we are all looking forward to the minor fall season and, of course, the spring season next year. To keep their skills sharp and to pass the time until the next season some are shooting league Wednesday Nights at the Crookston Gun club.
The team would also like to thank our on-site photographers, Tiffany Biermaier and Connie Wilkens, who follow us around and take pictures for us. Without them, it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to get any photos of these kids and their accomplishments.
Back Row Standing L to R – Coach Prudhomme, Evan Boucher, Evan Wagner, Ivan Luckow, Addisyn Schiller, Brady Samuelson, Garrett Wilkens, Austin Thode, Allison Abeld, Anna Heldstab, Jayde Uttermark, Ella Capistran, Coach Krona
Front Row Kneeling L to R – Axl Page, Parker Broten, Odin Prudhomme, Garrett Guzman, Jaron Knutson, Jacob Biermaier
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