PRIOR LAKE - Coming off of a sixth place finish last year, the Alexandria trap shooting team finished tenth on Friday out of the 40 teams at the 2022 Minnesota State High School League trap shooting state tournament at the Minneapolis Gun Club in Prior Lake.
“They did an exceptional job to get in the top 10,” Alexandria coach Scott Green said. “It's always been our goal to practice hard to get to the state tournament and to do the best we can. I was kind of doubting that we would get in the top 10, but the team did come on with a nice comeback.”
The Cardinals had this top 10 finish despite running into an equipment issue to start the day.
“We started off a little cold,” Green said. “We had an equipment problem with the traps. We had to shut down between the first box of shells and the second one until we got it fixed. If they had shot that way in the morning, as they did around noon, they would have been in second place.”
Wayzata won the tournament with a score of 489, while Tri-City United came in second with a score of 481.
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“They shot very well and they proved how good that they really were,” Green said about Wayzata. “They won a championship to get here and won one here at state, so they’re a very good team.”
In the team shoot, Alexandria had a score of 476. Alexandria’s high gun scores from Ashton Schlosser, Devin Dummer and Hunter Walz, who all shot 97 clays.
“That’s about what they normally shoot,” Green said. “They shoot a nice average of about 24 per box and that's a little better than normal even.”
Ashton Lickness shot 95 clays in the team shoot while Cody Lea shot 90.
Through session one of the team shoot, Scott said they were placed about 22nd but battled back to tenth with four scores of 49 and one 47.
“We knew we were way behind,” Green said about where they stood after the first team shoot session. “They did very well with the conditions. The guys shot very well. On the second tour of 250 targets, they only missed seven shots. That jumped us all the way into the top 10.”
The Cardinals had missed 17 shots in the previous session.
Alexandria qualified for the state tournament with a tie for first at the Section 7A Championship at the Alexandria shooting range a week ago and finished with the 22nd best score out of the 40 teams that qualified for the tournament in Prior Lake.
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In the individual shoot, Dummer shot 96 clays and finished tied for 36th.
“Devin was an excellent shooter and was one of our better shooters this year,” Green said. “He was consistently shooting about 97 or 98.”
Lea shot 95 clays in the individual shoot and placed tied for 46th.
Dummer and Lea, along with Nicholas Witt, qualified for the tournament due to their all-state status. Witt didn’t compete on Friday due to going into the National Guard.
“He was another very good shooter, and he was one of our top shooters,” Green said. “He always did really nice for the team.”
Benjamin Nachreiner (Lakeville South), Carter Sampson (Stillwater), Anthony Klassen (Benson), Davis Hay (Wayzata) and Keith Rollins (Staples-Motley) all shot 100s and tied for first in the individual shoot.
Drummer and Lea are both seniors who have now graduated out of the program as competitors.
With the 2022 season now done, Green is looking forward to future seasons.
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“The juniors that are coming back are very good shooters and we have a lot of shooters waiting in the wings below them,” he said. “If we can get the same people to return of course, we will have another very good chance of doing well again next year. I think our team has a lot of depth. So hopefully, most will return and next year, I think we’ll do very good.”
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