(Photo: Over 140 MCAC Clay Target Student-Athletes took part in the Fall Championship)
Grand Rapids, MN-
The Minnesota College Athletic Conference and the USA Clay Target League, recently concluded the inaugural season of the popular trap shooting sport with the MCAC Fall Championships, held on Tuesday, October 16 at the Grand Rapids Gun Club.
While providing a platform for teams to compete in-person at the same site was the primary focus, the event was also a celebration of the popularity and rapid growth of the sport in and around Minnesota.
The one-day Championship event hosted by the Grand Rapids Gun Club might of taken place on a chilly and windy day, but participants, coaches, fans and families turned out in layers and smiles as they cheered on their teams.
While there were several great moments of competition, including two tie-breaking "first-miss" shoot-offs between the top two women's competitors and a third-place tie in the men's division, several of the best moments went beyond the scoresheets.
| No competitor had a better fan section than mom-of-five, Laura Anderson, a student-athlete at Itasca Community College. |
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The community of Grand Rapids and the campus of Itasca Community College provided a great platform for all participating teams, with several squads traveling in the night prior to the event to prepare for a full day of competition.
| As a part of the U.S. Marine Corps / MCAC partnership announced in the earlier this summer, Captain Reese (USMC) provided the opening remarks for the competitors. |
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Visit Grand Rapids, assisted out-of-town teams and fans find the best rates for lodging, and the Grand Rapids Gun Club turned out an army of volunteers to provide everything needed for a first-class event.
| Bryenna Kuhn (center) of Southwest Wisconsin Technical College took top honors among the women's competitor with a tiebreaking sudden-victory win over Vermilion's Elizabeth Hintze (left), both just one shot ahead of third-place Alyssa Kasprick (right, Northland CTC). |
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| Southwest Wisconsin Technical College student-athlete Quintin Peasall (right) matched his regular-season championship form with a 99-for-100 performance at the Fall Championships, good for top men's honors. |
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| Dozens of coaches, assistant coaches, volunteers and range safety officers allow for a successful event, despite cool and windy conditions. Southwest Wisconsin Technical College coach Matt Schneider (below) keeps watch over the scoring for his competitors. |
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The overall team championship on the day was claimed by Vermilion Community College, who edged out Southwest Wisconsin Technical College by only two points.
| The student-athlete below was a part of the Vermilion Community College squad which finished first at the MCAC Clay Target Fall Championships with a overall team score of 465, just two ahead of Southwest Wisconsin Technical College (463). Pine Technical & Community College took third-place with an overall score of 457 on the day. |
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For complete MCAC Fall Championships scoring, including team standings, individual championship leaderboard and top men's and women's individual finish, go to: http://mcac.claytargetscoring.com/ and select, CHAMPIONSHIP.
(Southwest Wisconsin Technical College; runner-up finish in both the Eastern Division regular season and MCAC Fall Championships)
| Bryenna Kuhn (SWTC) finished 11th overall among all 136 student-athletes (male and female), and was the top woman in the compeition, needing a tie-breaker with Vermilion's Elizebeth Hintze to claim top honors. Both Hintze and Kuhn turned in 91-of-100 performances for their respective teams. |
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The inaugural Clay Target season in the Minnesota College Athletic Conference also allowed for growth of the league, as Southwest Tech, Lake Region State College and Pine Technical & Community College (below) all joined the MCAC in 2018.
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In addition to the top performing teams and individuals from the inaugural MCAC Clay Target fall campaign, USA Clay Target and their TrueTeam software allowed for multiple categories of accomplishment throughout the season. These opportunities for student-athletes to excel include:
The 2018 MCAC Clay Target season, conducted in partnership with USA Clay Target, allowed for over 150 intercollegiate student-athletes to represent nine colleges across a highly competitive five week regular season. The nine MCAC member colleges competed each week at the home gun range, with coaches validating and uploading scores via USA Clay Target's TrueTeam software, allowing schools to save thousands of dollars in transportation costs.
A special thanks to the USA Clay Target League, in particular John Nelson and Jason Kelvie, all nine MCAC member colleges, their coaches, administrations, Grand Rapids Gun Club and supporters for making this season a success.
(Laura Anderson, Itasca Community College)
Photos courtesy of John Connelly Photography; the official photographer of the 2018 MCAC Fall Championships.
This release sponsored by:
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About the Minnesota College Athletic Conference
The Minnesota College Athletic Conference is the organizational body for NJCAA-affiliated two-year technical and community college athletic programs in the Minnesota State system. The mission of the Minnesota College Athletic Conference is to advance intercollegiate athletics by providing an engaging and supportive environment for success of our student athletes and competition among member institutions. The MCAC is committed to the guiding principles of encouraging the development and success of student athletes, promoting the integrity, honesty and loyalty to member schools as well as upholding the sustainability of conference athletic programs.