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A new club has made its way to ˮ����, and a student has already nabbed a big win.

The ˮ���� Trap Club started last fall, with Nursing Assistant instructor Samantha Lewis and Customized Training & Outreach Manager Logan Hiemstra serving as advisors. Seven students participated in the first year, and the members are hoping to recruit more.

ˮ���� isn’t the only college to offer clay target: there are 15 teams in the Minnesota College Athletic Conference (MCAC) that compete. With ˮ���� starting off as a Trap Club, the main difference is that ˮ���� won’t be competing as a varsity sport like the teams that are part of MCAC.

The Trap Club participates and competes in the USA Clay Target Trap League in the spring and fall seasons and registration for the spring season is currently open. All experience levels are welcome; members must have a Firearm Safety Certificate, and they learn proper shooting techniques and firearm safety.

“Safety is paramount to everything you do. All students are required to do a safety course through the DNR or through USA Clay Target,” explained Hiemstra. “If you watch all the members, they’re always practicing muzzle control. All the principles and practices that I learned very early on, I carried through to today when I’m teaching students.”

Fall season

During the fall 2025 season, member Jordan Lewis snagged two awards from the Collegiate USA Clay Target League: USA Clay Targets First Place for Conference Female and USA Clay Targets High Overall Female for All College. “It was a great feeling of winning and accomplishment."

Jordan, who is working on her pre-requisites for Practical Nursing, chose ˮ���� because her mom (and club advisor) teaches at the college and the Trap Club was starting.

“[Trap Club] was a very important factor. I waited until there was a team to start classes. If there hadn’t been a team, I would have picked a different school to go to,” Jordan said. She has been clay target shooting for five years and competes on different leagues along with the ˮ���� Trap Club.

As an inaugural member of the club, Jordan mentioned that getting the team started was rocky at first, but the season went well and she saw her team members improve throughout.

Christian Gunnerson, an AA student who graduated from Apollo, also considered trap when choosing a college. He had originally thought about Central Lakes College but wanted to stay closer to home. After learning about the ˮ���� Trap Club, he made a final decision.  

“I was on the team at Apollo for four years and the captain of the team my final year. I’m glad trap is in my hometown instead of having to go very far away,” Gunnerson said.

Spring season

Spring season practices start in late March with competitions beginning in the first week of April. Members and advisors both invite more students to join the club, even if they have no experience.

“I’ve seen a shooter starting out at 10 for their low score and just shot tonight at 21,” shared Samantha. A standard round of targets is 25 with one point awarded for each hit. Hiemstra shared that one member hadn’t ever touched a shotgun but wanted to try.

“What’s fun about trap shooting is that it’s a therapeutic kind of thing,” Hiemstra said. “It’s an individual sport that gets combined with a team, so there’s no pressure to beat others. everyone’s shooting, everyone’s having fun, and everyone gets to enjoy being outside and shooting with friends.”

“It’s relaxing and takes my mind off things,” added Jordan.

Registration for spring season is open Feb. 3-March 23. Instructions can be found at the Trap Club Registration page. If you have questions, you can email Samantha Lewis.