Morristown Gun Club Youth Trap Championship

When the world seemed to stop due to the COVID-19 pandemic the Morristown Gun Club set out to give high school trap shooters some normalcy. The Minnesota State High School League cancelled all spring sports because schools were in distance learning mode.

The fact that all spring sports are outdoors and can implement physical distancing didn't matter.  If kids can't be in the buildings they said then they can't be on tennis courts, golf courses, tracks, softball and baseball fields.  Even the high school trap shooting season was not held.

Morristown Gun Club is home to five high school teams.  Faribault High School, Bethlehem Academy, Waterville-Elysian-Morristown, Northfield and Owatonna.  They started a individual league that has been enjoying competition the last couple of months.

Through that competition the top 10 average scorers were determined in three divisions.  Varsity, Junior Varsity and Novice.

This Saturday they will all compete for some nice prizes and their respective division championship.  The top three finishers in each division will receive trophies.  The winners get a case of shells.  All competitors will receive a box of shells and two free rounds of shooting to use from the Morristown Gun Club.

$1,000 worth of prizes are being given away including a lifetime Morristown Gun Club membership.

KDHL Radio will be broadcasting Saturday between 2 and 4 in the afternoon courtesy of Professional Pride Realty in Northfield and Ahlman's Guns Morristown.

The Morristown Gun Club is separate from Ahlman's.  They rent property from Ahlman's and have gradually built their club into a very nice setup. They enjoy a good relationship with Ahlman's.

We will be interviewing some of the competitors.  Hopefully some coaches and maybe parents to get everyone's perspective of the fastest growing sport in the country.

Pete Mergens of Professional Pride Realty is the Northfield High School Head Coach.  He marvels at the abilities of some of these athletes like the top varsity shooter Sam Miller of Northfield who has 3 perfect rounds in his ten qualifiers and comes into the competition with an average score of 23.6.  25 is perfect.

Second is Matthew Riehm of Northfield with a 23.4 average and two perfect rounds.  Next Joe Earl of Owatonna has two perfect rounds.  Patrick Mergens of Northfield and Riley Hafemeyer of Waterville-Elysian-Morristown have also recorded a perfect score during a round.  Unfortunately Hafemeyer will be out of town and unable to attend Saturday.

In the Junior Varsity Division Ashley Rost of Bethlehem Academy has the top average score of 22.3 which is better than five average varsity scores.

The top Novice Division shooter through 10 rounds is Dylan Teske of Northfield with a 19.3 average.  On his heels is Nathan Warnemunde of Faribault at 19.

Faribault has one competitor in the Varsity Division, Luke Leppert, Cade McCusker has qualified in the Junior Varsity Division.

Bo Dienst of Faribault Bethlehem Academy is competing in the Varsity Division.  In Junior Varsity in addition to Rost, Chloe Chadderdon and Hunter Conrad are from BA.

70 youth participated in the regular season so just to be a qualifier is a very good accomplishment.