Clay Target
Ridgewater College offers a new competitive clay target (trapshooting) sport and competes in the Minnesota College Athletic Conference (MCAC). It is open to both male and female participants on the Hutchinson and Willmar campuses.
As a member of MCAC, the student athletes compete during a six-week fall season. Student athletes who have earned their firearms safety certification will compete in a “virtual” trap shooting competition among MCAC member colleges.
Competitions are conducted at local ranges in Hutchinson and Willmar with scores uploaded weekly to the league’s website. MCAC conferences are determined by team size, and True Team® scoring is used to maximize the number of student athlete scores that are used for the team score. The season culminates with the MCAC Trap Shooting Championship in mid-October at the Grand Rapids Gun Club.
Student athletes meet with their coaches the first week of school in August.
2020-21 Season Wrap Up
In its second year offering clay target trap shooting as a sport, Ridgewater College’s men’s and women’s mixed clay target team placed third in the conference competition in early October and fifth in the Minnesota College Athletic Conference (MCAC) Clay Target Championship held October 13-14.
Two first-year Warrior shooters earned individual honors. Shelbea Schuette of Winsted finished fourth in the conference women’s division, while Cole Nelson of Chanhassen took home third as a state championship novice.
Approximately 200 participants – 160 men and 40 women – competed from 12 MCAC programs.
The Willmar and Hutchinson Ridgewater squads combine for a unified Warrior team when it comes to the conference and championship competitions, which this year, were also virtual like the regular season for the first time due to COVID-19.
One of the sought-after highlights for team members each year is to succeed at hitting 25 or 50 consecutive clay targets. Ben Bruhn (Willmar) and Devon Olson (Montevideo) both joined the 25-Straight Club during the championships, while other Warriors Andy Ellerman (Duluth), Oskar Anderson (Detroit Lakes), and Collin Leuze (Willmar) did so during the regular season.
