Today marks the start of the USA High School Clay Target League National Championships, and seven shooters from Mishicot are aiming for the gold.
Logan Campion, Xavier McCarty, Vanessa Paquette, Sawyer Sand, Dawson Valenta, Matthew Wotachek, and McKenzie Wotachek are all in Mason, Michigan for the national championships, which is the most of any school in Eastern Wisconsin.
Sara Schmidt who has helped coach the team for the past six seasons, tells SeehaferNews.com that the team has improved drastically over her tenure.
When she started, only one shooter qualified for nationals.
“It’s kind of been nice working hand in hand with the Maribel Sportsmen’s Club,” he explained. “They’ve started a youth program, just getting the kids to learn about the sport, getting the basics, and getting them built up.”
That collaboration has helped bump the participation up to the highest it has ever been.
“We’ve had 27 shooters this year,” she revealed. “I am very sad to see we have the most seniors that I’m going to be losing in one year, but we have a good group of freshmen coming up, so I’m excited to see not only where we will finish out at Nationals, but where this next season will start.”
The way a trap shooting competition works is that there are individual and team brackets, each operating the same way.
The shooters will take aim at two sets of 25 clay pigeons, followed by a break.
Then, in the afternoon, they will shoot another two sets of 25, giving them a score out of 100.
Senior and Captain McKenzie Wotachek is no stranger to the national stage, as she has gone to the tournament each of the last three years.
This year, she hopes to surpass a score that has just barely eluded her.
“My realistic goal for myself would be to shoot above a 90 out of 100 for individual and team,” she told SeehaferNews.com. “The last two years, I have just been shy of it. I think one year I got pretty close with an 89, but I’ve never shot above a 90 out of 100.”
McKenzie also set herself a lofty goal of reaching the championships, which would require right around a 96.
Fellow Senior Xavier McCarty has also been shooting for the team for the past four years.
He tells us his average per round of 25 pigeons has steadily increased over that time from shooting in the mid to low teens when he started to up in the 23 range.
This has definitely helped his confidence, as he has set a very high bar for himself this weekend.
“I’m hoping for high nineties. I know I can do it,” he said confidently. “I ended up a 97 out of 100 at State last month, and a lofty goal would be high, and 90 is even higher than a 95.”
Both McKenzie and Xavier voiced their pride in the team, especially as the numbers have gone up, and they had seven shooters qualify for nationals.
Schmidt thanked fellow coaches Katie Koeppel, Joe Niec, Rodney Gove, and Crystal Wondrash, as they have all played a major part in the success the team has experienced over the years.
All of the athletes will be checking in and practicing throughout the day today, and the team qualifiers will begin on Friday.
Individual qualifiers will be held on Saturday, and champions will be crowned on Sunday.
To get the latest on each day’s events, visit HighSchool.USAClayTarget.com.
