The Aberdeen Roncalli trapshooting team has witnessed major growth, so much so that the Cavaliers moved up a division having 47 kids shooting this year, highlighted by senior Zane Backous winning the State A championship on Sunday with a total of 96 out of 100 targets.

Cory Backous, coach of the Cavaliers, is pleased with the growth of the sport.

“That’s really what it’s about. It’s about being better for the sport of trapshooting,” Backous said. “As you can see here, we have lots of kids, and this is even small compared to (Saturday) with all the smaller schools. The smaller schools have less kids, but there’s more of them.”

Unlike all state sanctioned sports, trapshooting is based on the number of kids on each team, not the number of kids in the school. Roncalli moved up to compete on the second day, but there might be more competition on the first day.

“In my opinion, day one with the smaller schools is more competitive,” Backous said. “I think day one is a little more competitive than day two, and I might have some people that are gonna grumble at me for that, but I guess it is what it is.”

Why does trapshooting not follow the logic of bigger class sizes equal better shooters?

Backous thinks it has to do with how shooters grow up.

“I think it is because of the fact that you have smaller schools, rural communities, and they’ve been brought up with shooting guns and hunting and fishing and all that other stuff. That’s what they do and they’re good at it,” Backous said. “It’s a geographical thing. … They can go out and shoot little black birds when they’re 2-years-old, 3, or 4-years-old with a little BB gun or whatever. You get kids that grow up with it.”

Not only is Roncalli growing as a trapshooting team, the sport of trapshooting is growing as a whole in South Dakota. Trapshooting has a bigger impact than people might think.

“I just appreciate all the people that helped put this together and make it possible for all these kids. It’s something my generation never had, and it’s pretty cool to do that now,” Backous said. “You get to put guns in 12-year-old and 13-year-old hands and nobody gets hurt and nobody has a problem with it. It’s a good thing for our society and for our kids.”

Blake Clay

MAKING THE MOST OF A TOUGH SITUATION

Shooting at clay targets proved to be a bigger challenge than normal on Sunday with wind gusts hitting 40 miles per hour. However, a group of shooters from the Deuel-Deubrook Area squad tried to make the most of the situation.

Shooters came up with unique ideas when it came for their turn to shoot. Instead of yelling the traditional ‘Pull!’ members started using other words to release the targets.

“Instead of saying ‘pull’ every time, we’d say a fruit or something funny,” said Destiny Bekaert of Clear Lake.

Some of the shooters became very creative in their attempts.

“I think Kyle, he sounded like a chicken when he did it,” Bekaert said. “I think that was the funniest one.”

Bekaert likes the social aspect of the sport in addition to the competition.

“It’s freeing and it’s not a competition except for within yourself,” Bekaert said. “You just get to shoot, have fun, and hang out with people.”

The senior said trapshooting has a strong mental component, but a little levity helps in that regard.

“Mentally it can be kind of a challenge, but it’s easier when you have fun like we did out there,” Bekaert said. “We definitely would have beat ourselves up more if we didn’t say those funny things.”

Dave Vilhauer

NORTHERN FOOTBALL PLAYERS GIVE BACK TO COMMUNITY

Louie Schwabe and Kegan Mountain are members of the Northern State Football team who helped with the dirty work of the state trapshooting tournament.

Schwabe, who’s from Wind Lake, Wis., just outside of Milwaukee, has had little interaction with the sport.

“Here and there when I was younger, with my dad,” Schwabe said. “Other than that, not really.”

With it being his first time helping out, the wide receiver was surprised with the turnout and engagement.

“Well, the environment’s great. You can hear the cheers right now,” Schwabe said. “It’s more packed than I thought it would be. It’s a big spot, I like it. It’s cool.”

During this time in the summer, the Wolves are already back in action with summer workouts Monday through Friday at 5:30 a.m. The junior spent his weekend off at the Aberdeen Gun Club giving back to the community that supports him on the field.

“I just think of it like any other thing really. To be honest, I like helping out in the community. I do the best I can,” Schwabe said. “Man, it means the world obviously. It’s always nice knowing that they care and just do a little part for them.”

Blake Clay

TARGETS IN THE WIND

The talk of the day on Sunday was the brutal conditions shooters had to compete in. The wind was relentless and as a result, the scores were lower than normal.

“Scores are going to be down,” said Jerry Brick, president of the Aberdeen Gun Club. “I’ve been talking to different ones up and down the line here, and they’re telling me, they’re laughing that they broke 30 out of 50, which is not what they were expecting to do at tournament time.”

Sierra Vant Hul who shoots for Harrisburg said the range of difficulty depended on how hard the wind was blowing at the time of the shot.

“Sometimes it’s really hard, but other times it’s really easy,” Vant Hul said, “it just depends on how fast the wind is going.”

Vant Hul, who attends Sioux Falls Christian, said there’s not really any way to prepare for the conditions shooters were faced with during the final day for the tournament.

“Not really,” she said, “you just have to keep at it.”

Her father is the coach for Harrisburg. When asked what the best advice he gave her was, Vant Hul responded, “Don’t shoot the wind, shoot the clay.”

The wind wasn’t just tough on the participants. It wasn’t much fun for spectators, either.

“This is probably the windiest and the chilliest I’ve ever been being at state trap,” said Sarah Timmerman of Geddes, who was watching her son compete for the Platte-Geddes squad.

She did her best to battle the elements.

“I’ve got three blankets on right now,” Timmerman said. “I had to go sit in the car after he shot his first set just to warm up a little bit.”

Timmerman said she felt sorry for the shooters, who faced the difficult task of hitting targets while battling the windy conditions.

“This is crazy for being June,” Timmerman said. “I feel terrible for these kids trying to shoot in this wind right now.”

The one positive in all of it, is that each of the shooters on the line had to deal with the same elements, so no one had a clear advantage or disadvantage.

“In light of what happened here today with all the wind, I tell the kids it’s windy in all five posts and all 12 traps,” said Aberdeen Roncalli coach Cory Backous.

Being an athlete in South Dakota in the spring, residents face windy conditions all the time, however, Sunday was a bit extreme even for locals.

“These kids have been shooting all spring in the wind,” Brick said. “They probably practiced more in the wind than they have in really nice weather so they’re not unfamiliar with this, but this is very strong. This is a tough wind today.”

Dave Vilhauer

MULTI-SPORT ATHLETES PART OF TRAPSHOOTING

With trapshooting not being a sanctioned sport, many participants compete in other sports throughout the year, and some even in the same season. Aberdeen Roncalli coach Cory Backous welcomes them all.

“I don’t want our kids to miss out on track, or tennis, or golf that’s in the spring along with trapshooting,” Backous said. “I want them to be able to do that.”

One of those athletes is Spencer Hundstad who is in track and field in the spring, as well as hockey in the winter. Hundstad said the three sports have one thing in common despite being on three different surfaces.

“I’d say really the hand-eye coordination,” Hundstad said.

With track and trap shooting overlapping, Spencer just takes things as they come.

“I guess I just take it one at a time,” Hundstad said. “Once we’re done with track practice, I come out to trap and shoot.”

Backous makes the effort to allow kids to do other sports the same season as trap by setting up practice and competitions around the track season.

“What we did is I made our practice nights, we get two nights a week to shoot, I got our practice night on Monday night. And they might be in Milbank for a track meet, they might be here for a tennis match,” Backous said. “I put our competition night on Wednesday so we could get it in before church night stuff and then I have everybody. So, nobody’s gonna be gone, so they could be in track and tennis and golf, and then also come and shoot trap each week.”

Doing two sports at once can be challenging. Hundstad enjoys it and having trap on his days off allows his body to recover.

“I like both of them, so I don’t get overwhelmed,” Hundstad said. “I feel like your body’s not as fatigued, so you probably would do better.”

In a world where single sport specialization has become increasingly popular, Backous would much rather have his kids compete in multiple sports.

“There’s nothing more important to an athlete than being able to compete, no matter where it is,” Backous said. “To me, it’s more about being competitive, than it is about having a skill.”

Blake Clay

WATCHING THE ACTION

This past weekend’s state trapshooting tournament featured nearly 1,000 participants and they had plenty of support as spectators stretched from one end of the range to the other.

“It looks like there’s a lot of people here, that’s for sure,” said Jerry Brick, president of the Aberdeen Gun Club, “because I think as the sport gets a little bit more well known, families just come out and support their kids which is great.”

With no cost to attend, those who watched were literally out nothing as they watched the tourney.

“It’s free to get in,” Brick said. “The price is right, that’s for sure.”

The tourney takes many workers to put on, and their efforts were appreciated.

“I don’t know how many kids they have down here this year. About a thousand kids. That’s such an awesome thing. That’s gotta be bigger than the state B track meet or anything,” said Bowdle coach Jerry Beadle on Saturday. “It’s an amazing even that they put on here and kudos to all the volunteers in Aberdeen, shooting club, it’s just amazing that they have enough staff to do this.”

To see complete second day results, click on the following link:

https://sd.usaclaytarget.com/trap-shooting-tournament-leaderboard/

Dave Vilhauer