Eastern Oregon Shooters Return From Clay Nationals

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John L. Braese

MASON, MICH. – Clay shooters from eastern Oregon were part of 1,718 participants gathering in Mason, Michigan for the USA High School Clay Target League National Championships.

Competing over four days, shooters representing Crane, Wallowa, McLoughlin and Pilot Rock joined teams from around the nation. The student athletes grabbed shotguns to compete in the preliminary rounds on July 7 and 8 with the top shooters going on to the finals on July 9.

For eastern Oregon, Crane’s Preston Van Nice was the top finisher for the area, placing 26^th. Van Nice qualified for the finals after recording 96 clays out of 100 in the preliminaries and shot an amazing 99 clays out of 100 in the finals.

Wallowa’s Cash Tanzey was also in the finals after shooting 97 of 100 clays in the qualifying round. His 96 of 100 in the finals placed him 155^th for the tournament.

McLoughlin was represented in the final round by Austin Propeck’s finish of 183^rd. Propeck made it through the qualifying round with 97 clays shot and finished the nationals with 96 clays in the final round.

Wallowa found two shooters in the finals with Kellan Knifong placing 312^th after a qualifying round of 95 clays and a final round score of 93 clays.

The competition was tough as Crane’s Brady Otley was knocked out of the finals missing only six clays in the preliminaries and a score of 94. Otley finished 565^th.

Pilot Rock’s Jaxon Beloit also missed the final round after shooting 90 of 100 clays in the preliminary round and placing 982^nd. Two Wallowa shooters also failed to make the final day as Liam Wolfe placed 1,136^th with a score of 90 clays and GW Sweeny finishing the tournament in 1,390^th after knocking down 85 clays.