Teams from Ramsey, Morton and Stutsman counties won first-place honors in the 4-H Summer Shooting Sports State Match held Aug. 11-12 at the Capitol City Trap and Capitol City Sporting Clays ranges near Bismarck.

4-H’ers competed in three shotgun events and field archery. This is the second of two matches in which participants may compete to qualify for the 2013 4-H National Invitational Match.

One hundred twelve archers competed in the state match in field archery. All archers shot four arrows at field archery targets. The yardages were marked and age adjusted, with seniors shooting a distance from 6 yards to a maximum of 50 yards, juniors 35 yards and beginners 25 yards. A total of 280 points was possible.

The field archery event consisted of three age divisions with bare-bow, freestyle compound and recurve archery divisions.

The Ramsey County team of Cole Hanson, Kody Durbin, Gregory Fritz and Michael Bischoff was the top team in the senior freestyle division with 665 points. Bischoff was the top archer with a 232 score. This senior team has qualified for the national competition.

Dalton Spougstad of Morton County was top score in the senior recurve division, and Bailey Sand from Dickey County topped the senior bare-bow division.

The Morton County freestyle junior team of Adam Boehm, Beau Eider, Jade Ellingson and Cody Mulske was the top team in that division. Boehm was the top scorer with 216.

Bare-bow junior division honors went to the Stutsman County team of Cierra Dockter, Dalton Dockter and Jayden Kramlich. Kail Larsen from Stark/Billings County was the top bare-bow archer.

The Ramsey County beginner freestyle team of Forrest Hanson, Ordale Morstad, Zachary Ohma and Rachel Fritz took top honors. Alicia Biewer from Richland County was top scorer with 223.

The Morton County beginner team of Levi Haugen, Jacob Boehm and Michelle Haugen took top honors in the beginner bare-bow division. Cody Heidrich of Emmons County was individual high scorer.

The shotgun events consisted of trap, skeet and sporting clays. Seniors shot 100 trap, 50 clay and 50 skeet targets. Junior division participants shot 50 targets in each event. The shooter received one point for every target hit. The ranges are not age adjusted.

The Ramsey County team of Kody Durbin, Wyatt Ziegler, Devan Sundeen and Warren Blachfield scored top honors in the senior division trap, sporting clays and skeet events. Durbin and Ziegler were the top guns in trap, with a score of 98 for both. Durbin led the skeet event with a 46, and Blanchfield was a top gun in sporting clays, scoring a 39.

The junior division Ramsey County shotgun team of Bryer Erickson, Zachary Mertens, Dylan Durbin and Hunter Brown finished with top honors in all three shotgun events. Durbin claimed top gun in skeet and sporting clays, scoring a 42 and 35, respectively. Erickson shot a perfect 50 to win the trap event.

The masters division consists of youth who are in 4-H and already have competed in a national event in a particular discipline. In 4-H, youth who have competed in a discipline in a national event may not return to the national match in that event. However, they may return in another event.

The masters division in shotgun included Beth MacDonald, who scored 99 for the top score in trap, followed by Austin Erickson with 97 for second place and Morgan Hanson with 82 in third place. All three are from Ramsey County.

In field archery, the one masters participant, Chris Well of Stutsman County, scored a qualifying-level gold medal with 233.

NDSU Agriculture Communication - Aug. 24, 2012