Northeast Range/Ely’s first-ever appearance in the state trapshooting competition was both memorable and successful.
Not only did NRE take 29th out of 40 teams, 10 spots higher than it was seeded, but there were also a series of solid shooting performances at the June 26 event at Prior Lake.
The meet brought the top 40 high school trapshooting teams in the state, based on performances at a qualifying event earlier in the month at Alexandria.
“This takes the top 40 teams that shoot in Alexandria and sends them on to the state high school league meet,” said Julie Huseby, coach of the NRE team. “So it’s sort of the best of the best. We went in ranked 39th and we finished 29th. I’m very happy and everybody shot really well.”
Leading the way was Hunter Kosinski, who had an overall score of 97 and came home with a patch for a perfect 25-for-25 round.
Kamryn Bregier-Beno did Kosinski one better, getting a patch for 50 straight shots and recording an overall score of 96.
Both Talan Hart and Ryland Sandy had scores of 96 and had 25 patches as well.
Rounding out the NRE quintet was Amelia Sandy, who had a 77 overall.
“Amelia was the one, that her scores were the ones that got us to go to the state high school league meet,” said Huseby. “In no way did her 77 reflect on how she performed this year. She did an excellent job of shooting. She was the top novice female at Alexandria last year and this year she was the top JV shooter.”
The event at Prior Lake was sponsored by the Minnesota State High School League, with trapshooting, also known as clay target, classified as an emerging MSHSL activity.
“This was the next step for all of us on our team,” said Huseby. “It was brand-new territory and everybody did fine. We were all pleased with everyone’s performance.”
Led by Ely’s Talan Hart, who won the overall championship and was first out of 900 shooters for the day, NER-Ely was one of three teams to move on from the June event at Alexandria, which attracted shooters from Class 2A programs across Minnesota.
The performance in Alexandria followed the first conference title in 10 years for NRE.
