credit – PCC
March 24-29, the Pratt Community College Shooting Sports team traveled to the National Collegiate Clay Target Championship in San Antonio, Texas to compete against 76 teams from all over the nation and placed second out of the 10 two-year schools that attended.
Mason Welsch shot 100 out of 100 targets in the American trap competition and is now ranked 12th in the nation in collegiate trap. Welsch was also given a $500 scholarship based on his sporting clays score and won the contest after four rounds of ties against the remaining 14 shooters. Welsch graduated from Skyline High School last year and will graduate with his automotive degree this May.
The team took eight shooters which is the highest number in the five years PCC has been attending. The other seven students in attendance were Trey Ford, Tracy Freeman, Josh Locke, Devyn Eggleston, Alex Gregg, Grant Vrba and Briauna Fahrenbruch.
“It was very rewarding as a coach to watch several shooters achieve their goals they had set,” said Wildlife Instructor and Shooting Sports Coach Luke Laha. “The whole team represented us well. We also owe thanks to the college – without a supportive school and atmosphere we wouldn’t have been so successful.”
The team fundraised for their trip by selling knife sets and tickets for a Browning Silver Sporting 12-gauge shotgun. The winner of the drawing was Larry Ryan of Kansas City, father of a PCC Wildlife Outfitting & Operations student. The knives and gun were provided by Midway USA, a foundation that donates 50 percent of their profits to youth shooting sports yearly. In 2014, they gave over $4.6 million to different youth sports.
The mission of the Pratt Community College Shooting Sports Club is to promote the safe handling of firearms, instill a lasting respect for the shooting sports, and provide the opportunity for members to improve their leadership and team building skills through a variety of training courses, competitions, and community service projects while enjoying the recreational and social benefits the shooting sports have to offer.
