Reed City trap team wins state championships

MASON -- Reed City reign supreme as several area schools sent representatives to the 2022 Michigan Trap Team state championships on June 18. Reed City's team took first place overall out of a total of 61 teams. Chippewa Hills (20th) and Big Rapids (23rd) also ranked in the top 50 percent of all teams. Local individuals also scored well including Robert Kelley (Chippewa Hills) medaling in second place overall and Noah Brandt (Big Rapids) medaling with a third place. JD Adrianse (Reed City) and Cooper Thomas (Reed City) also tied for third but lost out on the medal due to the reverse run tiebreaker. Reed City also had three shooters finish in a tie for 10th place overall including Bryce Wein, Ryan Allen and Colton Gilland. Team scores are calculated by taking the total of each team's top five shooters. Shooters shoot four rounds of 25 clay targets with two rounds of 25 in the morning and two rounds of 25 in the afternoon session for a total of 100 total clays. Reed City's top five of Adrianse (97), Thomas (97), Wein (96), Allen (96), and Gilland (96) provided a winning overall score of 492, besting second place Portland by 10 points for the state title. Overall, Reed City had 33 shooters participate in the competition ranging in levels from varsity, JV and novice. Other sharp shooters from Reed City shooting 90 or better included Ryan Jones (93), Carson Thomas (93), Paul Saladin (92), and Nathan Huss (90). JD Adrianse had a run of 77 straight before missing his first clay and was one of only two shooters with a 75 straight on the day. Reed City is coached by Jack Adrianse, Tony Calabrese, Troy VanSyckle, Trent Livermore and Clint Weck. Chippewa Hills totaled a 452 with Kelley (98) leading the way. The other four scorers for Chippewa Hills included Sage Maeder (93), Alex Lynch (88), Ethan Doughty (87) and Donald Kott (86). Kelley tied for first place with his score of 98 and lost the tiebreaker on the reverse run rule. Chippewa Hills had a total of 21 shooters across all levels. Chippewa Hills is coached by Calabrese, Bill Doughy and Adrianse. Big Rapids scored a 451 led by Brandt's 97. Brandt won the tie-breaker for the third place medal. Joining Brandt in scoring for Big Rapids were Landen Bittner (90), Aiden Zimmerman (89), Jake Knopf (89), and Luke Roberts (86). Big Rapids had 18 athletes competing on the day. Big Rapids is coached by Ben Upham, Randy Rice, Bruce Sczepaniak, John Glover, Jeff Greene and Joe Spedowski. Area shooters were also awarded for streaks of 75, 50, and 25 and those shooters include: Adrianse (75), Brandt (50), Gilland (50), Allen (25), Huss (25), Kelley (25), Lynch (25), Maeder (25), Saladin (25), Carson Thomas (25), Cooper Thomas (25) and Wein (25). Adrianse was beyond ecstatic with his team's victory. "These kids have been amazing - great shooters and great people,” he said. “The amount of time and dedication they have put into this sport is unbelievable. I can't express how proud I am of this team. The community and our sponsors have been very, very supportive and we couldn't have accomplished this without them. “It's a great feeling to win a state championship and bring it back home to Reed City," Adrianse said. "We work closely with Chippewa Hills and Big Rapids. Seeing the local kids do well at the state championship is awesome." Sixty-one teams and 1,012 shooters competed at this year's Michigan State championship across grade levels from sixth through 12th grade and all sizes of schools. The US National High School Clay Target Shooting Championships are scheduled from July 6-10 in Mason. Athletes from Big Rapids, Chippewa Hills and Reed City will also be competing in that event.

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