WALLOWA — Five youths from Wallowa will travel to Mason, Michigan, this week to take part in the national competition of the USA High School Clay Target League.

Colby Knifong, who with her husband, Ken, coaches the team, said Monday that of the 23 kids on the team who went to state in Portland, the top five qualify for the national competition. She expects about 3,000 youths to compete in Michigan.

At the state tournament in June, the Knifongs’ son, Kellan, who graduated in June from Wallowa High School, had the best score of the local team with 92 of 100 for 23rd place. Incoming seniors Cash Tanzey and Liam Wolfe had scores of 90 and 89 respectively, for 36th and 43rd place. Incoming sophomore Elijah Parker scored 87 for 56th place, while Gavin Stage, in his first year at state, was 13th in the junior varsity competition with a score of 81.

Knifong said they took three of the team’s five girls to state. Karlee Wetz scored 82 in the JV competition, Abi Winter ranked 13th and Alla Jones was 12th as a first-year shooter.

She said the Cougars were up against some tough competition, but the varsity ranked 10th out of the 36 teams, which included a number of much larger schools.

“We have a very young team this year,” she said.

Knifong said Kellan did well enough at state to earn a $1,000 scholarship from the National Rifle Association for trap shooting to Southeastern Illinois College Harrisburg. She’s hoping the two incoming seniors can do likewise.

“There’s lots of money if you’re wanting to shoot trap for college,” she said.

The NRA helps out in other areas, too, Knifong said. It offered a $6,200 grant to help pay for ammunition if the Wallowa team could open participation to all students in the county, including Enterprise, Joseph and home-schoolers. But that grant wouldn’t cover the cost of the ammunition so they had to turn it down, she said.

Trap shooting is growing in popularity in Oregon, according to John Nelson, president of the USA Clay Target League, the program’s parent organization.

“Every year 95% of nongraduating students return to participate in the league’s programs, and over 12,000 new athletes joined the league this year through their school’s teams nationwide. In the league there are no benchwarmers — everyone participates thanks to the efforts of the shooting ranges, coaches and parents who make teams flourish.”

Knifong said if the team makes it to the championship round Sunday, its members will return to Wallowa late Monday.