Trap shooting team rapidly growing
Senior Mark Houle ready to fire and Jenna Jahnke patiently watches the shot. “Together, we worked with Stillwater’s athletic director to get a club formed at the school,” said Jahnke.
May 23, 2014
The bright orange clay pigeon flies over their heads as senior Jenna Jahnke is at the ready to take fire with her 12-gauge shot gun.
BOOM!
Jahnke has a direct hit with the clay pigeon which shatters into tiny shards as it falls to the ground into a field.
Jahnke was a strong supporter and collaborator in the start of a trap shooting team for the high school in 2012 her sophomore year. The trap shooting team has seen strong positive feedback from the student public and has just begun its third season.
“I got into trapshooting about 4 years ago by my cousin,” said Jahnke. “He brought me out to Willow River Rod and Gun Club and taught me how to shoot. It is a form of clay pigeon shooting with a shotgun. There are 5 stations and one person at each station at a time. Each person shoots 5 shells at each station then rotates, for a total round of 25 shots.”
Jahnke fell in love with the sport since that day and wanted to go trap shooting every day she couldn’t. Her love for the sport grew to her friends, and they decided to start a club through the school.
“Shortly after I learned how to shoot I reached out to Jim Sable the director of the Minnesota state high school clay target league,” explained Jahnke. “Together, we worked with Stillwater’s athletic director to get a club formed at the school.”
The club functions in a competition against other schools and organizations, but it isn’t run like a normal sport’s competition.
“The competition between schools is virtual,” said Jahnke. “Every team has their designated day or days that they shoot once a week. Each kid shoots two rounds (50 targets) and the scores get sent in and then updated for ranking and scoring online.”
When Jahnke started the team three years ago, she was not expecting such a positive response from the school with the 86 Stillwater students that are apart of the club.
“The first year there were 18 kids,” said Jahnke. “Which was more than I had expected for the first year anyway. Then, the second year it grew to 74 participants, and then grew again this year with our 86 member club. I never thought it would be this popular, I think word of mouth got around about it after the first year and that’s why the big spike occurred.”
Jahnke stated that she along with most of the club members,“love the routine that comes with trapshooting. Doing the same thing every shot and trying to be consistent. It’s a good feeling and fun shooting a target and watching it shatter before your eyes as it falls to the ground.”
Brinna Dochniak • Jun 2, 2014 at 12:31 pm
This article was captivating because it brought light to something that I was not really aware of. Trap shooting is a sport that I knew little about and I thought you did well with informing me and incorporating captivating quotes. Well written.
Orjana Stepien • Jun 2, 2014 at 12:10 am
I liked this article because you had great information and you kept it interesting. The quotes used were also strong and you explained the sport well and you showed that the sport has been becoming more and more popular.
Alex Eitzman • Jun 1, 2014 at 11:32 pm
Very good article on a club that not many students know about. You got very good quotes from many members of the team and gave lots of good information.
Matthew Flock • Jun 1, 2014 at 7:41 pm
Great article. I liked that you went into depth about how the sport is gaining popularity with SAHS students and had factual statistics to support it. The quotes were relevant and added value to your article.
Sam Jakupciak • May 31, 2014 at 5:33 pm
Nice job getting strong quotes that explain the sport for people who only have a vague idea of how it works. The intro brings the reader right into the story and reminded me of those Boyd Huppert videos we watched.