The Cambridge-Isanti clay target had a great regular season, and that gave the program a chance to have a great postseason.
The Bluejackets did take advantage of that opportunity with an impressive performance at the Minnesota Trap Shooting Championship held in Alexandria in June.
But C-I did struggle with a second postseason opportunity at the MSHSL’s Clay Target championship a short time later.
“You can’t let one day define your season,” said Loren Larson, the team’s assistant coach under head coach Chris Johnson. “We had a very successful season. It doesn’t take much to have a bad day.”
Cambridge-Isanti competed in the 7A Division of the Minnesota Clay Target League and dominated to win Conference 2 with 36,306 targets hit – more than 5,000 targets better than its closest pursuer.
“We came out from the start and put pressure on other schools, and we did that the whole season,” Larson said. “We ended with our high week; we came out of the gates strong, and we sure didn’t stumble at the finish.”
The Bluejackets’ 8,239.5 score in Week 5 was the best team total in the conference all season long, and they had four of the top six weekly team scores in the conference.
C-I won the title with depth, boasting eight of the 29 top shooters in the conference, a total greater than any other school.
“We had a number of kids who were capable of putting up a good score,” Larson said. “The cutoff for qualifying for state was 23.8, which is a great score – you have to tip your cap to that. …
“We didn’t have guys who shot 98 or 99 frequently. We had some 50s and 49s, but we also had a number of kids with very respectable averages, and I think that got us where we were, especially in the conference season.”
Sophomore Morgan Petersen was tied for second in Conference 2 with an average of 23.0 targets hit per round of 25, while senior Blake Ramlet tied for fourth with 22.90. Sophomore Zachary Hylton tied for eighth (22.70), while senior Thomas Larson tied for 11th (22.60).
Senior Seth Terhell tied for 17th (22.30), Gage Gow tied for 21st (22.10), and Ryan Merchlewitz tied for 25th (22.00).
That depth proved valuable in Alexandria, where Cambridge-Isanti had an impressive performance. The team finished seventh out of more than 30 schools in 7A and 24th among the more than 360 teams from all divisions that shot that day.
“We were all pretty excited with that finish,” Loren Larson said. “It happens every year: You have some kids that you’re expecting a huge score from, and it doesn’t happen, and at the same time there are kids who step up that day.”
The Bluejackets were led by Thomas Larson and Ramlet, each of whom hit 96 of 100 targets. Just one shot behind that pair were Hylton and senior Braydon Sparks, while junior Wyatt Nowling rounded out the top five with a 94.
C-I was so strong as a group that day that the squad did not use three shooters that finished with 93’s: Petersen, the person with the team’s highest average during the regular season, along with juniors Kody White and Braxden Chouinard.
“That was Kody’s highest score of the season – he shot well above his average,” Larson said. “And Morgan’s season average was 23.0 [out of 25], which equates to a 92. So even though he shot above his average, we had five who scored better.
“We had a really strong day in Alex. … That was an outstanding day when you compare it to our conference averages.”
The top 40 teams during the Minnesota Clay Target League’s regular season advanced to the MSHSL state tournament in Prior Lake, and that’s where the Bluejackets struggled. The team finished with 442 hits out of 500 targets to place 37th out of the 40 teams.
Ramlet led the way in Prior Lake with a 94, while Petersen finished with a 91. Thomas Larson posted an 89, followed by Sparks (85) and Nowling (83).
“It just wasn’t our best day,” Loren Larson said. “Morgan was two birds off his average, so it wasn’t a bad day for him, and Blake had a solid day.
“We had other kids who were disappointed with how the scores shook out.”
The assistant coach pointed out that the margin for error in Prior Lake is far tighter than in Alexandria.
“In Alex we had 38 kids shooting,” he explained. “In Prior Lake we had to narrow it down to five shooters – and all five scores count. The safety net is gone. …
“The sad thing is, had we matched the 476 we shot in Alex, we would have tied for second in the state.”
While the program will say farewell to 10 seniors after this season, the Bluejackets had 50 shooters on the roster and look to reload rather than rebuild.
“We’re going to lose a number of seniors that we’ve had for a four-year run,” Loren Larson said. “This also is one of the more coachable teams that we’ve had; you hate for seniors to go, because you’ll miss them, but that’s part of the cycle.
“I’m really excited by some of the younger shooters that we have coming back. I think we’ve got a lot of potential coming behind the seniors that we’re losing.”
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