It was an amazing season for many Dexter High School teams, clubs and organizations this past year and one that really stood out in the bullseye of success was the 2021 Dexter Trap Team (DTT). Let’s head to the range and take aim at a few of their incredible accomplishments.
First, some background.
The team, coached by Bill Hoffman with assistant coach Jim Kralik, is part of the USA High School Clay Target League based in Minnesota with teams participating in 40 of the 50 states. They compete in the Spring 2021 League, Michigan State Championship and National Championship and meet on Monday evenings for practice and league competitions.
“We continue to see increased interest locally in what has become the fastest growing, and safest, high school sport in the nation,” says Hoffman. “We have a very active group of family members who help out. The Ann Arbor Moose Sportsman’s League, Moose Lodge No. 1253, continues to host the team, providing the trap fields, safety officers and assistant coaching staff.”
The Washtenaw County Pheasants Forever Chapter #151, DTT and the Ann Arbor Moose Sportsman’s League teamed up this spring for the planting of an ongoing wildflower prairie habitat project on the Sportsman’s grounds.
2021 Spring League
DTT fielded 35 shooters during the 2021 Spring League. Conferences are based on team sizes; DTT competed in Conference 8 with the top 25 scores posting against our competition each week. Other teams in Dexter’s conference were Vicksburg, Quincy, Columbia Central, Chippewa Hills, Olivet, Hillsdale Academy, and Bellevue.
Despite some wet, cold and overcast shooting conditions, Dexter won its conference. Lady Dread shooters occupied six of the Conference Top 10 Female Shooter positions.
Six of the DTT members were seniors this past spring: Faith Anderson, Bella Emrick, Mike Fawcett, Brendan Mekas, Riley Moorman, and Evy Squire.
2021 Michigan State Championship
The State Championship was held on June 19, 2021 at the Michigan Trapshooting Association grounds in Mason. The event featured 703 shooters from 47 schools who competed in both team and individual formats.
Dexter placed 10th overall with the following individual highlights:
Kera Root: Top 20 Novice-Female
Will Durbin: Top 15 JV-Male and JV-Overall
Lexa Seelinger: #8 JV-Female
Mike Fawcett: Top 10 Varsity-Male and Varsity-Overall
Kylee Garcia: #1 Varsity-Female (95/100) and Top 20 Varsity-Overall
Whitley Fowler: Top 25 Varsity-Female
2021 National Championship
The National Championship was held from July 9-11 at the Michigan Trapshooting Association grounds in Mason and featured 1,684 individual shooters and 160 teams from 17 states competing over the course of three days.
DTT fielded a team composed of Lorenzo Biundo, Devon Emrick, Mike Fawcett, Kylee Garcia, and Alex Hoffman.
The Team qualifier was held on Friday, July 9 with DTT shooting a score of 93-93-93-93-89 (461) for 37th place.
Top 80 team scores made the cut for Sunday’s Team Final.
The Individual Qualifier was held on Saturday, July 10 with DTT fielding 15 individual shooters. The cut for the individual finals was the top 406 scores with Alex Hoffman the lone DTT shooter making the mark.
On Sunday, July 11, DTT shot 96-93-92-91-89 for another 461, combined with the Friday score for a 962 total and 30th place in the nation. In individual competition, Alex Hoffman shot a 187/200 but did not break the Top 10.
Team members are currently shooting at some local events but practice will be picking up soon for the 2021 Fall League which starts in September.
