Submitted Photo Gretchen Deaver of Berthold finished sixth overall in the Individual High Gun Finals for the highest finish among all local athletes.

MASON, MICH. – Earlier this month, athletes and teams representing 466 high schools from across the country got together to show off their skills in the 2023 USA High School Clay Target League National Championship (USAHSCTL).

The high-level competition took place July 5-10 and featured both individual and team competitions, where local athletes and teams had a very strong showing.

For male individuals, Samual Abel of South Prairie posted a reverse run score of 100 and shoot off score of 12 to earn an eighth-place finish in the High Gun Finals. S. Abel’s final ranking was the highest among all male individuals from North Dakota.

Brenan Kirk (92 reverse run) and Jake Ceynar (87 reverse run) of Williston finished 20th and 21st overall, respectively, among male individuals. They joined S. Abel as the only local male athletes to post top 25 individual finishes.

Matthew More of Red River (65th overall), Connor Beckedahl of South Prairie (70th overall), Connor Johnson of South Prairie (97th overall), David Abel of South Prairie (145th overall), Carson Anderson of South Prairie (147th overall), Ethan Bear of Valley City (159th overall), Ty Awender of Oakes (205th overall), Charlie Wilcox of Fargo Davies (236th overall), Wyatt Vovilla of South Prairie (253rd overall), Luke Anderson of South Prairie (269th overall) and Carter Korslien of South Prairie (350th overall) rounded out the final individual finishes in the High Gun Finals for local males.

In the female Individual High Gun Finals, Gretchen Deaver of Berthold posted a reverse run score of 45 and an overall score of 98 for a sixth-place finish. The spot secured by Deaver was the highest finish among all local athletes who participated in the USAHSCTL National Championship.

Logan Hanneman of South Prairie (33rd overall) and Miranda Novodvorsky (39th overall) made up the other finishes for local athletes participating in the female Individual High Gun Finals.

In the final results for the Team Competition, South Prairie had a tremendous showing. Finishing with a total score of 481, South Prairie tied for the sixth-best score among 80 teams.

Berthold finished 30th overall with a score of 473 and Williston finished 70th overall with a score of 456 to round out the local teams.

Among 240 high school teams and 1,800 individual athletes at the USAHSCTL National Championship, the competition was deep, and local athletes and teams showed that they were able to rise to the occasion by putting forth an incredible effort on a big stage.