ALEXANDRIA, Minnesota-Young trap shooters from across Minnesota earned state titles-with many qualifying to represent Minnesota at upcoming national championships-at last weekend's Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) Minnesota Trap State Championship.

The trap competition, held July 12 at Alexandria Shooting Park, featured some of Minnesota's top young shooters in five divisions: varsity, junior varsity, intermediate advanced, intermediate entry and rookie.

SCTP, for youths in grades 12 and under, is a program of the National Shooting Sports Foundation managed in partnership with the national governing bodies for shooting sports: USA Shooting, Amateur Trapshooting Association, National Skeet Shooting Association and National Sporting Clays Association.

With remarkable growth over the past eight years, the program is considered "the Little League of shooting sports." Some 8,000 to 9,000 students from over 45 states are expected to compete this year.

Minnesota teams participating in the state title shoot qualified for the SCTP National Championships July 31-Aug. 5 at the World Shooting and Recreational Complex in Sparta, Ill.

The best of these young shooters could be selected to attend an Olympic development camp in Colorado Springs, and some will go on to compete at the collegiate level.

For more information, visit www.nssf.org/sctp.

RESULTS

SCTP Minnesota Trap State Championship
(held July 12, Alexandria Shooting Park, Alexandria, Minn.)

Varsity Division (grades 9-12)
1st Place-Monticello Sportsmen Club Shooters, 884 out of 1000 targets (Kevin O'Donnell of Elk River, Matthew Becker of Monticello, Luke Denn of Monticello, Anthony Praught of St. Michael, Travis Hoverson of Rogers).
2nd Place-Crow River Sportsmens Club, 840 (Alex Steffens of St. Michael, Curtis Daleiden of Albertville, Jennifer Nelson of Otsego, Tylor Steffens of St. Michael, Logan Watters of Albertville).
3rd Place-Monticello Sportsmen Club Clays, 800 (Lukas Peterson of Osseo, Dean Kolles of Elk River, Jared Hilde of Monticello, Cal Flander of Otsego, Jacob Ruprecht of Rogers).

Junior Varsity Division (grades 9-12)
1st Place-Wayzata High School, 783 out of 1000 targets (Cody Bergeron of Plymouth, Dilan Czech of Medina, Andrew Nicholson of Minnetonka, Reid Peterson of Plymouth, Casey Simmons of Minnetonka).
2nd Place-Buffalo Gun Club Youth Shooters, 664 (Ryan Bartl of Buffalo, Robert Hoen of Delano, Colm MacNab of Buffalo, Nick Olson of Buffalo, Anthony Thein of Buffalo).
3rd Place-Not awarded.

Intermediate Advanced Division (grades 6-8)
1st Place-Alexandria Area Youth Trap League, 735 out of 1000 targets (Josh Fearing of Alexandria, Clayton Stotesbery of Evansville, Ariel Way of Garfield, Elliot Jacobson of Alexandria, Brian Krebs of Alexandria).
2nd Place-Minnetonka High School, 731 (Tim Pearson of Deephaven, David Plaziak of Deephaven, Dakota Zeimer of Excelsior, Hunter Murphy of Deephaven, David Schneider of Shorewood).
3rd Place-Not awarded.

Intermediate Entry Division (grades 6-8)
1st Place-Alexandria Youth Trap League, 568 out of 1000 targets (Andrew Rentschler of Alexandria, Mark Kallevig of Alexandria, Cody Lund of Evansville, Ashley Fults of Ashby, Shawn Miller of Alexandria).
2nd Place-Not awarded.
3rd Place-Not awarded.

Rookie Division (grades 5 and under)
1st Place-Alexandria Youth Trap League, 276 out of 500 targets (Taylor Olson of Brandon, Patrick McGaffey of Brandon, William Schroeder of Brandon, Christian McGaffey of Brandon, Kannen Lund of Brandon).
2nd Place-Not awarded.
3rd Place-Not awarded.

Media Contact:
Kraig Kiger, SCTP Minnesota State Director, (218) 327-0583 or kraig.kiger@dnr.state.mn.us