Wallowa trap shooters do town proud at nationals

Published 9:15 am Tuesday, July 11, 2023

WALLOWA — Five members of the Wallowa High School Trap Shooting Team did their community proud last week, when they flew to Michigan for the 2023 USA High School Clay Target League National Championship.

Competing in the nationals July 5-9 were junior Cash Tanzey, senior Kellan Knifong, senior Lucas Hulse, junior GW Sweeney and junior Liam Wolfe. They were joined on the trip by coaches Ken and Colby Knifong.

The team didn’t make the finals Sunday, but did well individually, their coaches said.

“They did pretty amazing,” Colby Knifong said.

On Friday the team shot and ended up ranking 153th out of the 240 teams. Tanzey and Knifong each shot a 96, Wolfe shot a 93, Sweeney shot an 83 and Hulse shot 77.

The team didn’t make it into the championships on Sunday, July 10; only the top 80 teams qualified for that.

Saturday was the individual shoot.

“All five boys shot at different places at different times and kept us hopping,” Colby said.

Wolfe entered the Annie Oakley shoot, placed in the top 10 finishers, and won $25.

Tanzey finished with a 97, Knifong with a 95, Wolfe with a 91, Hulse with an 86 and Sweeney with an 85.

Tanzey’s and Knifong’s scores qualified for the finals in the top 400 out of 1,800 shooters. Tanzey finished with a 96 and Knifong with a 93, shooting 300 clays each in three days. Tanzey ended in 155th place and Knifong was 312th out of 1,800 shooters.

Wallowa was one of 14 Oregon schools to send shooters to the national competition.

The team drew financial and other support from throughout the county. M.Crow hosted a pie auction, and proceeds went to the trap team; over $20,000 was raised. The National Rifle Association gave a grant of $5,700 that sent all the ammunition needed for the season along with gun and protective eye and ear wear. The Oregon Hunters Association also gave a donation as well as Ducks Unlimited; team members assisted at Duck Unlimited’s banquet earlier this year. The Wallowa Gun Club donated time from members to help the team and hosts the weekly shoots.

It all added up to “a great amount of support from our community, including the local school and administrators,” Colby said.