The Hillsboro High School Clay Target Team has wrapped up another successful season. The 22-23 team consisted of 11 area high school student-athletes, six from Hillsboro, four from Centre and one from Chase County.
During the regular season, the team competed in both the Skeet and Trap leagues. In the spring skeet league, Hillsboro finished in 4th place in an 8-team conference. Matt Basore was the 2nd place high average male, for the conference averaging 22.8/25. Chayla Owen received 4th place for the conference in Ladies division. There were 21 total skeet teams in the spring league that were split into three conferences. Participants for the skeet league were Chayla Owen, Matt Basore, Blaise Kitzmiller, Karsen Kroupa, Lane Rogers, Logan Rogers and Robert Spohn.
In the spring trap league, the Hillsboro team won 1st place in 1A Conference 4 that had 9 teams participating. Matt Basore received the high average male with an average of 22.7/25 for the conference. He will be continuing his shooting career next year at Fort Hays State University.
Karson Kroupa and Lane Rogers finished in the top 10, and Chayla Owen was the 2nd highest female average for the conference. She plans to attend WSU and participate in their Clay Target Program. The consistent scores from these team members and help from the younger team members secured top honors for this season.
There were 116 total teams that competed in the spring trap league. Participants were Matt Basore, Gavin Bennett, Emery Dalke, Cooper Hefley, Clayton Jantz, Blaise Kitzmiller, Karsen Kroupa, Chayla Owen, Lane Rogers, Logan Rogers and Robert Spohn.
This Hillsboro team also competed in the state competitions held June 16 (Skeet) and 17 (Trap) at Ark Valley Gun Club and the KTA trap grounds. There were 80 teams represented with over 1500 student athletes participating over the weekend. Novice, JV and Varsity divisions were determined by the spring league average that was achieved by each participant.
The highlight of the Saturday event was the JV team posting some impressive scores. Shooting in the JV class were Emery Dalke, Cooper Hefley, Clayton Jantz, Blaise Kitzmiller, Chayla Owen, Logan Rogers and Robert Spohn. This group posted a team total of 409 (top 5 individual scores) receiving 5th place in the JV division. Missing the 4th place award by only 2 targets.
The team would like to thank their sponsors, Marion County Quail Forever and the Justin Corbet Foundation.
