Bemidji Trap Shoot Team Preps for State Finals

The Bemidji Lumberjack trap shoot team is concluding their final days of practice before heading down to Prior Lake on Friday, June 21 for the state finals.

The Jacks are coming off the Minnesota High School Clay Target Championships in Alexandria with a sixth-place finish, thanks in large part to the young guns like ninth grader Roman Vold and seventh grader Clayton Johnson, who each ended the nine-day event shooting 96s.

“A lot of our older kids struggled, so, I mean, it was good to see the younger kids pick up and shoot and kind of keep up with us and help us win,” said senior Corbin Hadrava. “And that was the main thing. That was nice to see that the younger kids are stepping up and being there ’cause that means we’re a solid team for the rest of the years that they’re here.”

Bemidji is sending Johnson, Vold, Hadrava, Kadyn Nipp, and Eric Bittmann, along with alternates Avery and Blake Kehoe. They’ll be shooting together for the first time and believe getting in rhythm, while also having a short memory, will be pivotal toward ensuring success.

“We’ve had issues down there with some of the mechanical parts of the machines or the the system that controls the birds,” explained senior Eric Bittmann. “So being able to reset mentally, if something doesn’t go correctly, being able to just reset and think of it as a completely new shot and keeping that focus is what allows, kind of, to stay at the top where we need to be.”

Team play will begin at 9 Friday morning at the Minneapolis Gun Club, with the individual portion kicking off in the afternoon at 1.