Tuesday, June 7, 2022

Exeter-Milligan-Friend Trap Team Season


 

Back row from the left:  Head Coach Justin Harre, Coach Shane Bristol, Laura Casper, Tucker Simms,  Kynli Combs, Andrew Lunt, Cori Combs, Andrew Vavra, Dayton Kremer, Draven Payne, Kierra Papik, Lily Jeffries, Savana Krupicka, Aiden Vavra, Tyler Due, Devin Harrison and Coach Doug Motis.

Second row from the back pictured from the left:  Coach Travis Combs, Kain Combs, Coach Jeff Combs, Trenton Naber, Noah Schilz, Mikey Bartu, Daysan Staskal, Preston Knollenberg, Ben Bartu, Cade Kresak, Will Vyhnalek, Josiah Oceguera, Jake Opfer, Casper Mertz, Cohen Harre, Chase Paulsen, Coach Cory Engert.

Second row from the front from the left:  Grady Bresson, Will Kallhoff, Vincent Cox, Deacon Erdkamp, Ty Svehla, Jaxson Brandt, Charlie Hoarty, Carver Kanode, Brett Kallhoff, Gavin Jensen, Zach Spohn.

Front row from the left: Rylan Bartels, Conner Uffelman, Hudson Linabery, Wyatt Hoffman, Jacob Behrends, Levi Jurgensen, Kynnedy Bristol, Sydney Engert, Cheyenne Krupicka, Carly Uffelman and Jacob Spohn.

Not pictured: JA Soukup


 End of season conference winners from the left:  Andrew Vavra, Trenton Naber, Kynli Combs, Kain Combs, Cori Combs, Cohen Harre, Jaxson Brandt, Rylan Bartels and Carver Kanode.

 

The Exeter-Milligan-Friend Trap team had another successful year as a part of the Central Nebraska Trapshooting Conference.

The team had 51 students participating this year. The team is divided into Juniors (age 12 through 8th grade) and Seniors (9 – 12th grade).  They competed with around 160 other shooters every Saturday morning at Crooked Creek club near Aurora. 

This year the team included 26 juniors and 25 seniors.  Each Saturday the seniors would shoot 50 clays to start the day at the 16 yard line followed by the juniors who shot 50. 

In the afternoon, each senior would shoot handicaps, shooting at the line which was half the distance of their score in the first round (i.e. if they shot a 46 out of 50 in the first round they would be at the 23 yard line for handicap).

Harre, along with additional coaches Travis Combs, Shane Bristol, Corey Engert, Doug Motis and Jeff Combs keep busy observing the team and monitoring their shooting during practices and at the meets.  They spend the entire day outside no matter what the weather and this year there were gale force winds on many of those Saturday mornings.

At the end of the conference season, awards were passed out with Cori Combs as team captain of the all-conference first female team and Kynli Combs also on the first team female. Cade Kresak was on the all-conference first male team and Andrew Vavra along with Trenton Naber were on the second male team.

Receiving Junior team honors were first male team members Kain Combs, and Cohen Harre. Jaxson Brandt was on the second team and Carver Kanode and Rylan Bartles were on the third junior team.

The conference also sells raffle tickets for a gun and part of that fundraiser goes to fund scholarships. This year EMF team member Cori Combs received a $500 scholarship from the Central Nebraska Trapshooting Conference.  The Rainwater Basin Pheasants Forever Chapter made a generous $1500 contribution towards scholarships for this years seniors competing in the Central Nebraska Trapshooting Conference.

The EMF team members pay no registration fees because each team member raised funds selling raffle tickets for a gun. Harre was encouraged to see more team members this year. The team has students from seven area schools this year.

This makes the Cornhusker State Trap competition more challenging for the coaches as the team members at the state shoot must all be from the same school.  This was the 52nd year for the event sponsored by the Nebraska Game and Parks.

The lone EMF Trap member to bring home hardware from the Cornhusker national shoot was Cori Combs who finished out her final year in fourth place in the ladies division breaking 72 out of 75 rocks.

Combs and Ben Bartu are the only two seniors that will leave the team as they graduated this year.  Harre is encouraging his team members to participate in shooting sports all year long to make next year’s team even better.

We owe a big thank you to all of the surrounding communities that helped the kids raise money for their entry fees and practices,” said Harre, “We had another fun year with a great group of kids and parents. We had so many great coaches and parents that it really showed with the kids and how much they improved throughout the year. Trap shooting is an individual sport as well as a team sport so the participants learn that their team is dependent on them to be there.”

 

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