The NRHEG clay target team held onto its lead in the Class A Conference 6 standings on Wednesday at Owatonna Gun Club despite posting lower averages than it had earlier this year.

Panthers coach Dan Sorum said that a tough outing for Sam Bartz was offset by improvement from the rest of the team. Bartz hit 38 of 50 targets Wednesday after hitting 49 of 50 last week.

“This is a whole-team sport,” he said. “There are no bench players, so when one person struggles it is important that the others can step up and fill in the gaps.”

Leaders for NRHEG were Collin Christenson, last spring’s top shooter, who posted a perfect round of 25 and an overall score of 48 of 50. Frank Altrichter added a score of 47 of 50.

“Frank is now the top shooter in the conference and holds the No. 10 spot in the top 100 shooters in the state,” Sorum said. “ NRHEG currently has five of the top 10 shooters for the conference.”

The others top 10 shooters are Christenson, third; Tyler Raimann fourth; Bartz, sixth; and Zachary Eustice, seventh.

The same six shooters are also all ranked in the top 100. The team consists of 20 athletes from NRHEG, Waseca, and Albert Lea.