Four teenage athletes from the Apple Valley Gun Club took home a second-place trophy from this year’s Scholastic Action Shooting national championship in the Rimfire Optic division.
In this competition, participants use a semi-automatic .22 pistol with a red dot optic to shoot steel targets at set distances. They are scored on both accuracy and speed.
The High Desert shooters was the only team to represent California at the Ohio competition. Coach Ryan Gunn says he wasn’t expecting the team to do so well, given there were 2,800 registered competitors, and some rimfire optic teams had more than 10 shooters to the Apple Valley team’s four.
He told the Daily Press that he and assistant coach Jake Morrison are proud of how each High Desert shooter did.
“They competed against shooters with world record titles,” Gunn said. “Our team did an impressive job keeping up. We had a great time out there.”
The group also competed in individual matches.
Halia Mitchell, 14, took first place in the intermediate-advanced division for the ultimate pistol 9mm division. The youngest of the bunch, Kaylee Condron, 13, placed third in the same category.
In the advanced division, Ethan Gunn, 18, received 24th place and Justin Morrison, 15, got 37th out of 52.
Tonia Lundberg attended the Ohio competition as a supportive parent. She says her son Ethan and the rest of the Apple Valley team did an “amazing job.”
Apple Valley youth gun club representing only California team at nationals in Ohio
Apple Valley make up the only team to represent California at this year’s Scholastic Action Shooting national championship.” height=”1536″ id=”91098199007″ src=”https://media.zenfs.com/en/victorville-daily-press/5eec5f2efe47210bdbec4d675d8a911a” width=”2304″ data-uuid=”b5dcd12a-51ed-376e-877a-b065407b33b0″>
There were two main portions of the national competition: trap and ski and steel plate.
The trap-and-ski portion required shooting at clay pigeons as they were catapulted through the air. For the steel plate portion, shooters hit station targets as quickly as possible.
According to Ryan, Ethan’s best time is hitting five targets in under two seconds, a time that he says impresses even adult shooters.
The Apple Valley team is one of the smallest that competes at the national level. Last year’s team from Texas had more than 60 participants. Despite the compact size, Ryan says his team does pretty well for themselves, regardless of the titles they take home.
While performing on the national stage this year, Ethan was approached by two separate sponsors: a firearm manufacturer and the custom mold grip company NXG Arms. He was also invited to compete in the Wisconsin Regionals competition in Saukville, Wisconsin, from Aug. 7 to 9.
“The exposure is what makes competing at these national matches important,” Ryan said. “We couldn’t have made it here without the Apple Valley Gun Club allowing us to practice at their facilities. We owe a lot to them.”
McKenna Mobley is a reporter for the Daily Press. She can be reached at mmobley@usatodayco.com or on Instagram @mckenna_dailypress.
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Apple Valley teens place second at national shooting match in Ohio
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