Submitted Photo Four members of the Ward County 4-H shotgun team took part in the National 4-H Shooting Sports Championships in Nebraska. From the left are Shane Novodvorsky, assistant coach; Tate Novodvorsky, Clay Ceynar, Jorn Brose and Ethan Myers, team members; and Dustin Myers, coach.

North Dakota was well represented at the National 4-H Shooting Sports Championships.

The contests were held in Grand Island, Nebraska, on June 20-25. There were 16 youth from all over North Dakota competing in various shooting sports contests. The contests included compound archery, hunting skills, smallbore rifle, and shotgun.

The Ward County 4-H shotgun team consisted of Clay Ceynar, Arnegard, Tate Novodvorsky, Douglas, Jorn Brose and Ethan Myers, Minot. Shotgun has three portions; trap, skeet, and sporting clays. There were 27 states and 108 youth competing in shotgun.

The trap portion of the contest was quite nerve wracking. According to Coach Dustin Myers, Novodvorsky was in a three-way tie which resulted in a shoot-off contest with two other youth, one from Missouri and one from Oklahoma. In the shoot off, the contestants moved back from the 16 yards to 21 yards and shot two rounds from each station. As they competed, the lowest scores were eliminated. Novodvorsky successfully won the shoot-off.

Ceynar was also in an eight-way shoot-off in the trap portion of the contest with youth from Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Texas. This shoot-off was ran the same way as Novodvorsky’s shoot-off, but only four shooters could shoot at one time. After both groups shot, the lowest scores were eliminated. Those remaining moved back two yards and continued until the placings were final. Ceynar earned ninth place in the trap portion of the contest.

A third shoot-off ensued for North Dakota as they tied with Colorado and Missouri. They started 21 yards away from the targets and each team shot two rounds. After the first round, Colorado was eliminated. Next, Missouri and North Dakota shot at the 23-yard line. North Dakota was successful in the shoot-off and earned fourth place team.

“The kids had a lot of fun shooting against some real tough competition and met some kids with the same interests as them,” said Myers.

Ward County results of the Shotgun portion of 4-H Nationals:

® Novodvorsky

Champion Trap (hitting 98/100 targets)

® Ceynar

9th place Trap (hitting 96/100 targets)

® Team of Brose, Ceynar, Myers, and Novodvorsky

4th place Trap