Trap Team Shooting Thier Way to Nationals

Paul Smiths, NY ~ The Paul Smith's College Trap Shooting Team is off to a good start through Week 3 of competition.  They compete in the USA College Clay Target League in Conference 3, which includes teams like Ferris State University, Bismarck State College, and Western Michigan University.   
 
Senior Seth Miller (Lowville, NY) is currently ranked #1 in NYS and 3rd in the nation, while Jacob Fontaine (East Aurora, NY) is ranked #2 in NYS and 9th in the nation.  Miller started the team his freshman year with Brett McLeod after which the popularity and competition level of the sport took off. "I started shooting trap in high school following in my grandfather's footsteps - he was an amateur state champion for many years when I first got here. When Brett mentioned to me the start of a trap team here at Paul Smith's College, I was ecstatic! Since the first year we have come a long way with the team - from only shooting at school to traveling to our new home field in Long Lake, NY to making it to nationals last year. Kendra McGraw finished 2nd in the JV Women's Division, and I finished 8th overall in the nation."   

Trap Shooting, or, Sporting Clay Shooting, is popular among outdoorsmen, shooters, and Olympians across the world, with hundreds of high schools and colleges featuring competitive teams in the US. The league scores are based off the honor system, and coaches report the targets hit and percentages to a mainframe which compiles with other teams in real time. 25 targets are sent out from the thrower inside a lowered house 16 yards in front of the shooter (diagram below). The targets come out in multiple different angles in front of a shooter flying at 43 mph. Shooting 5 shots from 5 different positions of the clays, the shooters use shotguns to bust them out of the air. For the college competitions, student athletes shoot 2 rounds of 25 each week for 5 weeks. They end the season with a virtual National Championship out of 100 targets (4 rounds). Currently, Miller stands at 75 (ending week 2 with a 25/25 and a 50/50 for week 3 of competition) straight targets hit. Caleb Smith (St. Alban's, VT) and Simon Wright (Ontario, NY) both went 25/25 in last week's competition. 

The team travels to Long Lake each Wednesday for a weekly competition that is entered virtually by the coach against conference competition. The same score each shooter shoots will also be entered in for their individual scores. 

The shooters who register for Nationals will shoot 4 rounds at a time to be determined between October 31st and Nov 7th of this year.