Levi Thurman came into Montgomery County trapshooting practice on Sept. 21 with his Mossy Oak cap filled with holes in the back.

Still, the MCHS sophomore didn’t mind.

“It’s the lucky hat,” MCHS coach Amanda Sullivan said.

The week before, Thurman accomplished a big feat during a practice session, scoring 25 out of 25. That meant one of his teammates had to toss his cap in the air and Thurman had to shoot it, which is part of a tradition in trapshooting.
After the third attempt, Thurman shot his cap with a shotgun.

“It was definitely a happy moment,” Thurman said.

Thurman was one of the top performers for the MCHS trapshooting team, which ended its season on Sept. 29 at the Area V trapshooting competition at the Quincy Gun Club in West Quincy. The squad had a total of 25 members, all of them from the Future Farmers of America group.

“They’ve been doing really good,” Sullivan said. “They have improved a lot since our very first practice. The highest average is about 22. So it is a 22 out of 25. In the beginning, it was much lower than that. To be able to be shooting at a shoot, they have to shoot an average of 18 or higher to be able to make the team, which is way higher than it has been in years past.”

Thurman, seniors Ethan Rakers, Josh Gilbert, Hayden Francois and Izzy Freymuth, juniors Griffen Rakers, Austin Blackstock, Bre West and Logan Camp and sophomores Jace Ellis, George Kolling, Derrick Cobb, Maddux James and Robby Rodgers were among the returning trapshooters from the 2020 season.

Rounding out the team were senior Anna Teson, juniors Gunner Sexton and Carie Schroer, sophomores Alexa Groeber, Brayden Rose, Presley Schluss and Ray Poston and freshmen Jonah Happe, Jacob Veach and Garrett Weekley.

Sullivan said all of the seniors have been helpful to the underclassmen this season.

“My seniors are excellent,” she said. “My seniors will always go up and will watch the young kids and go give them pointers. They’re great about that. It’s very hard for me just to be able to see everyone. So they’re always jumping in and helping out and trying to better the younger kids.”

The coach said the freshmen had some experience in trapshooting before joining the team.

“Luckily, a lot of them have started out in 4-H shooting sports when they were younger,” Sullivan said. “Most of these kids have experience doing some kind of shooting with their shotgun before this. A lot of them have gone duck hunting or something like that or played around shooting birds.”

Thurman had some experience shooting with his family before he decided to join the team as a freshman last fall.

“When I heard that FFA had trapshooting, it was an automatic thing,” Thurman said.

The sophomore said going 25-for-25 in practice on Sept. 13 is the biggest highlight in his two-year career with the trapshooting team.

“I didn’t expect that,” Thurman said. “My highest before that was like 19. I’ve been shooting an average of 17 or 18. I got a little nervous towards the end.”

Francois, who joined the trapshooting squad when he was a freshman, said going 25-for-25 is not easy.

“One little mistake and you don’t get another 25,” the senior said.

MCHS had three trapshooting squads at the Area V competition. The A team finished with a 200, the B team shot a 193 and the girls team fired a 159.

“It’s stiff competition,” Sullivan said. “Our area is very competitive in trapshooting. We have to be one of the top seven schools. There are 16-17 schools in our area, so we have to be in the top seven to get to move on to district competition.”