One of the more unique sports, Mounite Clay Crushers, is also one that lacks publicity. It may be popular among those involved, but for the rest of the school, the team and their successes are not well known.

Many students have never heard about this upperclassmen-led clay shooting group, but they are successful and growing in numbers. 

    What is clay shooting? It is a sport consisting of a disk of clay being thrown into the air and the participant uses their gun to shoot it as it goes by. During the competition, with each successful shot, teams can score points. 

   There are three main types of clay shooting: sporting, skeet, and trap.

   Sporting is shooting in groups of two to six people on a course with 10 to 15 shooting stations laid around the natural future of the land.

   While skeet shooting is two trap houses 40 meters apart, one high and one low, where clay disks shoot out at different speeds and trajectories.

   Trap shooters stand 15 meters behind one or two dispensers where clay disks are thrown from. 

   Junior Gary Munson has been participating in clay shooting for most of his life, and in the past years, he has won and placed in states. Munson believes the sport takes practice and time, but he enjoys competing. 

   ¨It takes talent and hard work to do good in this sport, and when you win, it makes you want to keep doing it over and over again,” said Munson. 

   Munson’s goals are to go to the Nationals finals and hopefully win. 

   Senior Troy Laird has recently joined the clay shooting team as a way to be around friends and has had a great time doing so.

   “The main reason I joined was because of Gary and his dad as the coach. It also sounded like a fun thing to do,” said Laird.

   Laird will be shooting for the first time this year and is hoping to have a great year.

   The Clay Crushers season does not start till the spring, so until then, they will start stocking up on ammo and getting practice in before the season starts.

   In past years, the group has had great success by winning multiple times and having many athletes placed in regional, state, and districts.

   Even though the team has been together for a short period of time, the improvements have been instrumental to their success. This season they look to continue competing at states and beyond.