The Rainier Columbians Trap Team traveled to the Hillsboro Gun Club recently for the Class 1A Oregon State Championship Tournament, competing against 35 teams from across Oregon on June 23.
Head Coach Jeff Sorenson gave an update on the team’s finale in a Facebook post after an “outstanding” day of shooting that saw the team hit a team-record score of 471/500 birds. The Columbian’s sharp shooting saw them place 3rd overall in 1A Classification, narrowly missing second-place Madras, who scored 472/500. This year’s state champion, Yamhill-Carlton, scored 479/500.
According to Sorenson, the “Team Classification” looks at each team’s five best individual scores for the day. Team trophies are then given to the top placers in the Varsity, JV, and Novice divisions. Sorenson explained how the team finished out, and detailed a confusing scoring situation where Rainier narrowly lost out on the varsity division 3rd place trophy to Hermiston.
“In the Varsity division, we tied Hermiston at 468/500 but lost the tiebreaker to them and ended up in 4th place. (This is confusing because one of our shooters who qualified in the JV category (Kylee Ford) had a personal best score of 92/100, but her score doesn’t count in the varsity division. So although we had the 3rd best team qualification, we didn’t get the 3rd place varsity trophy,)” Sorenson said. “So we missed a Varsity division trophy by one bird out of 500 and missed the top overall score by 8/500 birds. Outstanding shooting, and very proud of our team!”
Though the Columbians didn’t quite secure the Varsity division trophy, the team did claim the 1st place JV division team award. Rainier’s top 5 JV shooters were Kylee Ford, Jayden Quevido, Tristan Johns, Faith Langhorne, and Sam Monk.
Sorenson detailed that there was no shortage of standout performances for the Rainier team. Across the full day of shooting, the top performers for the Columbians were brothers Tristin and Brighton Stout, who tied each other with a team-best score of 96/100. James Watkins was right on their heels with a 95/100. Tyler Lambert and Ford tied at 92/100. Chandler Blaylock and Jayden Quevido tied at 89/100 and Tristan Johns shot a personal best 88/100.
Individual awards were earned by Charlie Hall, who placed 1st in the Novice Female division with a personal best score of 73/100. Quevido’s 89/100 earned him a 3rd place JV male medal. Ford took home the 1st place JV female award with her 92/100 and would have placed 2nd in the female varsity division with that score. The Stout brothers and James Watkins found a solid rhythm, and each earned 25 straight patches for shooting perfect rounds in the tournament.
Tyler Lambert and Tristin Stout each earned All-State recognition, which placed them among the top 50 individual shooters in the state. Brooke Collum was awarded the 3rd place medal for female shooters based on the team’s regular season league shoots, and Lambert claimed the 3rd place male award. On top of that, Tyler Lambert took home the Columbians Top Shot award for a season-high average on the male side, and Lilly Langhorne earned the Female Top Shot award. The team also claimed the 2nd place regular season league award for Rainier’s division.
The slew of individual accomplishments meant great performances for the team as well; Sorenson said the team had its highest season scoring average and our highest State Tournament score.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our kids and how they represented Rainier throughout the entire season. We also awarded team letters today, which are earned by averaging at least 70/100 either in the league average or at a minimum 4-round tournament,” Sorenson said.
Letters are awarded to high school students, and “Varsity Level Shooter” patches are awarded to team members in 6th to 8th grade.
“This year, I was proud to hand out a record 17 letters and patches for this accomplishment! These awards went to Tristin Stout, James Watkins, Lilly Langhorne, Brooke Collum, Brighton Stout, Levi Hall, Tyler Lambert, Bree Cole, Chandler Blaylock, Justin Bozarth, Faith Langhorne, Sam Monk, Jayden Quevido, Wade Widme, Tristan Johns, Kylee Ford, and Charlie Hall,” Sorenson said. “I want to thank all of our sponsors, coaches, team staff, and parents that make this all possible. It’s been a great season with a lot of awesome accomplishments and outstanding shooting. Thanks for a great 2024 season!”
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