Knights place at state tourney

Published 8:39 pm Thursday, June 28, 2018

: Mike Huper, Calob Prange, Ann Huper, Dalton Bradley, Luther Langrud, and alternates Levi Sorenson and Cole Rickert traveled to Minneapolis last Friday for the Minnesota high school clay target state tournament. Alden-Conger finished fourth place overall with a score of 483. - Provided

Alden-Conger trap shooting team competes, takes fourth place

The Alden-Conger trap shooting team competed in the Minnesota high school clay target state tournament last Friday.

Ann Huper, right, and Ali-Jean Peterson took first and second place, respectively, at the 2018 Class 4A Conference 2 championship. – Provided

The Knights turned in great rounds from each of their five shooters, finishing in fourth place overall with a final score of 483.

Dalton Bradley — the lone senior on the team — and Luther Langrud led the way, each recording scores of 98 out of 100. Bradley had two rounds of 49, while Langrud had a perfect first round of 50 followed by a round of 48.

Cole Rickert won first place both in the male division and overall at the Class 4A Conference 2 championships. – Provided

Ann Huper and Mike Huper each finished with totals of 97. Ann Huper recorded a perfect first round followed by a 47, while Mike Huper had a first round of 47 followed by a perfect round of 50.

Calob Prange was the fifth shooter for the Knights; he turned in rounds of 48 and 45 to bring his total to 93.

Alden-Conger head coach Pam Koenen knew she had a good team on her hands, but she said fourth place was something she wasn’t quite expecting.

Luther Langrud finished in second place in the male division at the conference tournament. – Provided

“At the beginning of the season, we knew we had a lot of strong shooters and a lot of depth,” Koenen said. “We probably have 12-15 kids that are not only varsity, but really high-class shooters. We knew we had the ability, it was just a matter of getting all five shooters to perform well on the same day. I was hoping for the top 10 when we made the tournament and they definitely achieved that.”

Not only did Alden-Conger take fourth place at the state tournament, it also won the conference championship as well as the league championship for the third year in a row.

Mike Huper took third place in the male division at the league championship with a score of 98. – Provided

At the conference tournament, the Knights took the top two spots in both the male and female divisions. Cole Rickert and Langrud took first and second, respectively, in the male division and Ann Huper and Ali-Jean Peterson took first and second, respectively, in the female division.

At the league championship, Logan Sailor won first place in both JV male and JV overall. Ann Huper won the female division and Mike Huper took third place in the male division.

Logan Sailor took first place in both the JV male and overall division at the league championship with a score of 93. – Provided

“As coaches we’re extremely proud of these kids,” Koenen said. “They show up week after week, and sometimes the weather is not the greatest when we start early in the spring. It’s cold, it’s windy, sometimes it’s raining or snowing, but these kids are out there every week and they’re giving it their all. You always hope that by tournament or championship time they’re going to peak and they have definitely proved that this year.”