The Kingsland High School trap shooters claimed the Conference 7 team championship for the fall season of 2026. Fifteen Knights (14 boys, 1 girl) combined to place first among nine teams. Always competitive Mabel-Canton was runner-up in Conference 13.
Ike Tweten of Mabel-Canton was the top clay-target individual scorer among Journal-area shooters. The Cougar senior averaged 23.90 out of a perfect 25.00. Cougar teammate, junior Carter Hershberger, and Spring Grove junior Tyler Turner each averaged 23.60. Kimberly Volkart of LeRoy-Ostrander was the area’s top scoring girl with 22.50 average.
The fall season consists only of conference competition, with no postseason state or national events as there are in the spring season. Of the 11 Journal-area teams that compete each spring, four also competed this fall.
Kingsland, coached by program founder Doug Plaehn, had the top team score in each of the first four weeks of the five-week season in Conference 7. The Knights featured two of the league’s top three individual marksmen. Junior Bryce Oeltgen averaged 23.50, the second-highest in the nine-team conference, followed by 3rd-ranked sophomore Kellan Slifka at 22.90.
That pair was among six Knights who placed among the conference’s top 25 boys. Jim Mettler (21.80) tied for 8th place, Daniel Lund (21.70) 11th, Rylee Warren (21.00) 18th and Kypton Mensink (20.50) 22nd. Lily Wilson (16.90) placed 12th among conference girls.
Mabel-Canton was the runner-up to Princeton in a nine-team race in Conference 13 that also included 7th-place Austin. Coached again by Logan Henry, the Cougars had five of the league’s top 21 boys and also five of the top nine girls. Tweten (23.90) ranked 3rd among conference boys and 19th among all boys in the state. Hershberger (23.60) tied for 6th among conference boys, followed by Mason Swenson (23.30) tied for 8th, Hunter Kelly (23.10) tied for 10th and Trevor Torgerson (22.70 tied for 18th.
The second-highest average among conference girls belonged to Cougar sophomore Whitney Williams (22.10), with twin sister Lindsey Williams (21.00) tied for 4th. Victoria Snyder (20.80) ranked 6th, Allison Siskow-Hoefs (20.60) 7th and Lyndin Enright (20.40) 8th.
Two area squads were assigned to Conference 12, with Spring Grove finishing 5th, just ahead of 6th-place LeRoy-Ostrander in an eight-team race. Spring Grove was led by junior Tyler Turner, who averaged 23.60 to tie for 8th place, the lone Lion among the top 25 conference boys.
There were a half dozen Lion shooters among the league’s top 25 girls, led by junior Josephine Jaster (20.40) in 7th place and Keyera Betcher (19.50) tied for 10th. Lynden Morken and Lauren Hammel tied for 13th, each at 19.40. McKenna Newgaard (18.60) finished 17th and Autumn Petersen (18.10) 18th.
LeRoy-Ostrander was led by senior Kimberly Volkart (22.50), who placed 3rd among conference girls, and Logan Drees (21.80), the only Cardinal among the top 25 boys in 23rd place. Vivien Main (19.50) finished tied for 10th among league ladies with Mia Nagel (15.40) 24th.
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