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Jun. 11—MITCHELL — With the pressure ratcheted up at the South Dakota High School Clay Target League state tournament, the Mitchell High School trap shooting club delivered in a big way.
Between the trap and skeet disciplines, Mitchell emerged with seven top-three placewinners, including four of nine available individual state titles. Plus, Mitchell won two of three trap team titles.
However, while the light is still shining on the club's most recent accomplishments, the future may be even brighter.
"A coach always does that (looks ahead). You can't help it sometimes. It's the 'just wait until next year' sort of thing," said MHS head coach Jerry Opbroek. "Now, next year doesn't always come, but we have a fantastic group of young kids coming up through the program."
Since the trap shooting club was formed in 2017, Mitchell has built a tradition of strong varsity shooters who perform well at the state tournament — a trend which continued this year, as the program earned third place in the Class 2A varsity team rankings — Mitchell's top performers at the state tournament were young guns, several still making their way up the ranks.
Hadleigh Wilson brought home the junior varsity female trap and novice female skeet championships, while Matt Peterson added a junior varsity male skeet championship and took third in the junior varsity male trap standings. Dawson Fosness won the novice male trap title. All three are just rising freshmen.
Trinity Wilson, a rising sophomore, claimed the junior varsity female skeet title.
Peterson and Hadleigh Wilson paced Mitchell to the junior varsity team championship, while Fosness and William Hays, who finished as runner-up in the novice male trap competition, led the way to a novice team title.
Even among the quintet that took third place in the varsity team race, only Trell Kaupp, a former state skeet champion in his own right, is a senior. Alongside him were junior Jordan Herrlein, sophomores Chance Henkel and Brooke VerHey and freshman Devin Henkel.
The sophomores, Chance Henkel and VerHey, were Mitchell's top varsity finishers in trap at the state tournament, as Henkel tied for seventh in the male standings and VerHey took fifth in the female standings.
"It's really great when there are just lots of people from lots of different skill levels doing well," Fosness said.
Loaded with young talent who have already tasted success, Mitchell doesn't have designs on slowing down anytime soon.
"We definitely like seeing the awards pile up," Hadleigh Wilson said.
"Even when we think we're at our best, they're always there pushing us to go further," Trinity Wilson said. "It's exciting seeing yourself and all your teammates work up from novice all the way to, hopefully, one day, varsity."
At its core, Opbroek maintains that the trap shooting club is a developmental program; the success is just a welcome bonus. But as those successes become more frequent, they've attracted more and more student-athletes, many hoping to be next in line.
Of the 47 members the club had this spring, more than a third earned a varsity letter for their performance. Only three were seniors. Meanwhile, the youngest letter-winner was a first-year member in the sixth grade, who potentially has six more years of varsity trapshooting ahead.
"There's no question that we have a really good program from top to bottom," Opbroek said. "We've got an unbelievable coaching staff, but we also have really fantastic kids. Every coach in the country would just love to have a group of kids like we have."
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Between the trap and skeet disciplines, Mitchell emerged with seven top-three placewinners, including four of nine available individual state titles. Plus, Mitchell won two of three trap team titles.
However, while the light is still shining on the club's most recent accomplishments, the future may be even brighter.
"A coach always does that (looks ahead). You can't help it sometimes. It's the 'just wait until next year' sort of thing," said MHS head coach Jerry Opbroek. "Now, next year doesn't always come, but we have a fantastic group of young kids coming up through the program."
Since the trap shooting club was formed in 2017, Mitchell has built a tradition of strong varsity shooters who perform well at the state tournament — a trend which continued this year, as the program earned third place in the Class 2A varsity team rankings — Mitchell's top performers at the state tournament were young guns, several still making their way up the ranks.
Hadleigh Wilson brought home the junior varsity female trap and novice female skeet championships, while Matt Peterson added a junior varsity male skeet championship and took third in the junior varsity male trap standings. Dawson Fosness won the novice male trap title. All three are just rising freshmen.
Trinity Wilson, a rising sophomore, claimed the junior varsity female skeet title.
Peterson and Hadleigh Wilson paced Mitchell to the junior varsity team championship, while Fosness and William Hays, who finished as runner-up in the novice male trap competition, led the way to a novice team title.
Even among the quintet that took third place in the varsity team race, only Trell Kaupp, a former state skeet champion in his own right, is a senior. Alongside him were junior Jordan Herrlein, sophomores Chance Henkel and Brooke VerHey and freshman Devin Henkel.
The sophomores, Chance Henkel and VerHey, were Mitchell's top varsity finishers in trap at the state tournament, as Henkel tied for seventh in the male standings and VerHey took fifth in the female standings.
"It's really great when there are just lots of people from lots of different skill levels doing well," Fosness said.
Loaded with young talent who have already tasted success, Mitchell doesn't have designs on slowing down anytime soon.
"We definitely like seeing the awards pile up," Hadleigh Wilson said.
"Even when we think we're at our best, they're always there pushing us to go further," Trinity Wilson said. "It's exciting seeing yourself and all your teammates work up from novice all the way to, hopefully, one day, varsity."
At its core, Opbroek maintains that the trap shooting club is a developmental program; the success is just a welcome bonus. But as those successes become more frequent, they've attracted more and more student-athletes, many hoping to be next in line.
Of the 47 members the club had this spring, more than a third earned a varsity letter for their performance. Only three were seniors. Meanwhile, the youngest letter-winner was a first-year member in the sixth grade, who potentially has six more years of varsity trapshooting ahead.
"There's no question that we have a really good program from top to bottom," Opbroek said. "We've got an unbelievable coaching staff, but we also have really fantastic kids. Every coach in the country would just love to have a group of kids like we have."
Continue reading...
