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The Crane Mustang clay target team scored the highest in the 1A class, winning their division state championship with 476 points. Crane beat the second place team, Cascade Christian, by 18 clay targets. A total of 13 teams competed in the 1A class of the state competition, which was held in Hillsboro on June 26.

The Crane Union High School (CUHS) clay target team wrapped up a successful spring 2021 season!

After COVID-19 shut down the spring season in 2020, the CUHS clay target team returned as strong as ever with 16 trapshooting athletes from Crane Union and Burns high schools.

Shamrock Shoot

The team got off to a great start by participating in the Shamrock Shoot, which was sponsored by the Eastern Oregon University Trapshooting Team. 

The match was held March 13, 2021 in La Grande, and the Crane Mustangs placed first overall. Johnny Sword took second place, Emery Hammond took third place, and Tanner Davis took fourth place in varsity. John Otley placed first in JV.

Regular season

With COVID-19 regulations still in place, athletes were allowed to shoot anytime between April 1 and May 23, as long as the scores were recorded consecutively for each competition week and they were shooting with the team. 

This allowed the students to participate in other sports (as they began to reopen) and still shoot with the team. Seven other teams competed in the Class 1A, Conference 4 division: Echo, Estacada, Amity, Pendleton, Rainier, Siuslaw, and Wallowa. 

Conferences are determined by the size of the team, not the size of the school. All teams in Conference 4 have 15-19 athletes on their team. Scoring uses the top 13 athletes from each team in this conference only. Points are awarded by those scores. 

The highest scores in the conference get a larger amount of points. The next highest scores get lower points, and so on.The points are tabulated each week of competition for a continuous score throughout. If more athletes score high, the team gets more points. This season, the Crane Mustangs battled with Estacada for second place before finally finishing third. Echo took first in conference play.

State tournament competition

Many members of the CUHS team said they were disappointed with how they finished in the conference. This fueled their determination to do well against schools in all conferences at the state competition, which was held in Hillsboro on June 26. Shooting against all of the Class 1A teams began on a very hot day, with temperatures reaching 105 degrees. At the state tournament, the top five shooters’ scores are counted for points, regardless of squads. The same is true for all divisions. A total of 100 targets were offered in the tournament. The Crane Mustangs were thrilled to learn that they scored the highest in the 1A class, winning their division state championship with 476 points! They beat the second-place team, Cascade Christian, by 18 clay targets. A total of 13 teams competed in the 1A class.

The Class 2A division tournament was held the following day with 11 teams. The Crane Mustangs defeated the top team, Newberg High School, in the 2A class as well. Crane won by three clay targets. In the individual competition, Johnny Sword placed third in varsity, and Preston Van Nice placed first in JV.

Nationals

With spirits high, the Mustangs were ready to take on teams at Nationals!

To qualify at Nationals, a team must have athletes with a 19/25 average or better. For individual play, athletes must have a 21/25 or better average during the regular season. Crane had 10 athletes who qualified, and arrangements were made to compete at the Nationals tournament July 7-11 in Mason, Mich. Scoring is based on each particular team. Crane took two teams of five athletes. Each team’s scores are tabulated. If there is an athlete with a better score on Team 2, it cannot be configured with the first team. Crane’s first team consisted of Tanner Davis, Evan Marten, Johnny Sword, John Otley, and Emery Hammond. Later, because of scoring confusion, they ended up being called Squad 2. Team 2 consisted of Ana Idoeta, Matthew Drushella, Adam Thompson, Cyrus Mocan, and Preston Van Nice. Friday, July 9 was the team qualifiers. Teams had to be in the top 80 out of 160 teams in order to progress to the championship round on Sunday, July 11. There were 100 targets total. Team 1 qualified at 62nd place. Team 2 did not qualify and finished the tournament at 153rd place. Van Nice earned a “50-straight” patch for his performance. Marten and Davis both earned a “25-straight” patch.

The individual qualifying match was held on July 10. Only the top 400 athletes move on to the championship round. Davis qualified for the championship round in 132nd place, and Otley qualified in 250th place. A total of 1,755 athletes participated in the individual qualifier round. Davis and Otley both earned “25-straight” patches.

The championship rounds for teams and individuals was on Sunday, July 11. The events were met with a lot of wind and rain, which affected everyone’s game. The Crane Mustangs finished in 76th place out of 160 teams, tying CUHS’ highest placement at Nationals.

Davis finished the individual round in 150th place out of 1,755 athletes. Otley was 362nd, Van Nice was 994th, Mocan was  809th,  Drushella was 1,467th, Thompson was 1,519th, Sword was 1,164th, Hammond was 948th, Marten was 560th, and Idoeta was 1,612th.

To get an idea of how close the competition was, Davis scored a 191 out of 200 (only missing nine targets), which put him at 150th. Davis also earned a “50-straight” patch.

Head coach Connie Robbins said, “I am super proud of this team and their accomplishments this season. We set out to meet a goal to win the state championship this year, and we exceeded that goal! I would like to thank all those who supported us financially and in spirit this season. We couldn’t have made it without you. Go Mustangs!”

If you attend a high school in Harney County and would like to participate on the clay target team next year, please contact Coach Connie Robbins at Crane Union High School.