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CMHS Clay Target team has 25 athletes and growing, hosts open house

By CHASE BOTTORF cbottorf@lockhaven.com 5 min read

MARSH CREEK -- One sports team at Central Mountain High School is changing the status quo.

Central Mountain High School's Clay Target Team has amassed over 25 athletes since its incarnation two years ago. The team allows ninth through twelfth graders to compete. The league's priorities are safety, fun and marksmanship, in that order. Each student must complete firearm safety certification before participation.

Recently, CMHS Clay Target Team held an open house, to allow the public a chance to learn more about the program and its continued growth both locally, and throughout the state.

There are 17 coaches in total for CMHS's team, specializing in each discipline of target shooting. Some are range safety officers and each coach has their clearances. Several of them are ranked in the top five percent in the state for shooting and some are nationally ranked.

The team focuses on three different disciplines of target shooting: five stand, skeet and trap.

Each athlete competes against other schools virtually. They are placed in a conference based on the team's size instead of school size. Each of the disciplines are different conferences, depending on how many kids there are in each.

Each specific discipline team focuses strictly on their own team scores. Weeks depend on how well the athletes do.

"Everybody on a team is on a team. They might have a good week, might have a bad week. You might help the team one week but not the next week," explained Lori Gunsallus, team administrator. "It's cool that we don't have to choose if it might be the best or not because everybody can be good on any given day."

According to five stand coach Steve Heverly, there are 25 shots per round with five athletes per round. He said it takes around 20-25 minutes per round. Each kid shoots two rounds with about 45-50 minutes in total for three to four groups. He added it is about three hours worth of shooting altogether.

Practice makes perfect for the athletes. Each of the discipline coaches and range safety officers work with and train them for two weeks before the competitions.

"We start with a couple practices every year and start working with them. We try to train them on how to concentrate on targets, where to hold their guns. We have practices throughout the week where some of them show up. We work with them individually sometimes, and teach them how to focus, things like that," Heverly said.

Each athlete can shoot whatever day they want between a Sunday and Saturday. The scores have to be entered by Saturday night. Each athlete has their own account to check their scores and where they place.

There are currently 47 Pennsylvania schools with an approved High School Clay Target Program.

Last spring there were 41 teams and 973 student athletes participating in Pennsylvania, which included 25 CMHS students, according to Gunsallus, who made the team possible.

She helped the sport become recognized in the curriculum at Central Mountain. Since many of the students on the team have been competing in another program, the Youth Hunter Education Challenge, it helped bolster the team’s creation.

"I just recognized that there weren’t a lot of opportunities and they didn't get recognized or the exposure as a school at all. I started looking at programs that they could shoot additionally and then be able to be recognized in the school," Gunsallus said.

The program that came to be was the USA High School Clay Target League.

Gunsallus said she found the program and approached the Liberty Township Sportsmen's Association, in Howard, for a field to use. From there, she went to the principal of the high school, Nick Verrelli.

"First, I approached the Sportsmen's Club to see if I had any support from them because you have to have a field. They bought into it right away and we took the idea to Mr. Verrelli at the high school," Gunsallus said.

The next step was reaching the school's athletic director, Stephen Hafele. Finally, it reached the school board where superintendent Dr. Jacquelyn Martin was "super helpful in getting it started," according to Gunsallus.

The league is the only 100 percent school-approved clay target shooting sport program in America, according to Gunsallus. The league's co-ed and adaptive nature are key attractions to schools nationwide. The league is fully Title IX compliant with both male and female athletes competing on the same team. Additionally, it's an adaptive sport, which allows students with physical disabilities to take part.

Since its creation at Central Mountain, the team has brought in a substantial amount of awards. There is a display case at the high school dedicated to the team with all of their awards.

One of the award winning athletes is Joseph Proctor, who specializes in five stand. He became a part of the team after being involved in another shooting club.

"My friend Emery, who is Lori's son, was a good friend of mine from another club we were in. She started this all, so it just fell into place.I started this in ninth grade and I've been shooting since sixth," he said.

Proctor has won a couple competitions in the league. He has so far taken second for skeet and first for five stand.

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