The end of the fall season for the NRHEG clay target team included a wave of 25 Straight patches as six sharpshooters put on a display.
On Sunday, it was Clay Stenzel, Even Reyna and Riley Schultz. For Schultz, it was his career first 25 Straight patch. Then on Wednesday, the team added Jason Eustice, Matthew Bartness, and Walker Krampitz to the roster of 25 Straight rounds for a strong season finish. While it was mathematically impossible for the team to catch the conference leader from Hermantown, it did serve to put the team solidly into the second-place position they have held all season as they had their largest point total margin seen all year vs. the rest of the field.
“It was a good season and puts the team into a great spot for the spring league that will start up in April,” said coach Dan Sorum.
Of those shooters earning a patch, Bartness, Reyna, and Stenzel turned in a second nearly perfect round of 24 for a total score of 49/50. The team leader for the season is Caden Beauvais with an average of 23.8. This was good for the second-place individual spot in the conference. Beauvais was leading the conference until this past week when a shooter from Hermantown put together a perfect round of 50 to pass him by just .1 and end with a 23.9.
The team had a total of seven athletes finish in the top 10 conference averages. For the males, it was Beauvais (2nd), Alex Dobberstein (3rd), Charles Pittman (5th), Evan Reyna (7th), Jason Eustice (8th), and Adam Eustice (8th). On the female side, Ellie Senholtz took the 10th-place spot.
For the state standings, Beauvais was 19th, Dobberstein 28th, Pittman 36th, and Reyna 71st out of a field of 3287 athletes.
“This is the most top 100 shooters the team has seen in either fall or spring leagues,” said Sorum.
The team will now wait until the spring season where they will be tasked with the challenge of trying to win a 3rd consecutive spring conference title. Special thanks go out to all of the team's 2019 sponsors, all of which can be seen on the teams Facebook page under NRHEG Clay Target Team. Thanks to the Owatonna Gun Club for hosting us for 9 seasons now and of course thanks to all of the parents, athletes, coaches, and supporters who make this team active and competitive.