Oskaloosa Shooting Team Gets A Few Moments Of Recognition
Oskaloosa Shooting Team National Award Winners. (photo provided)
Oskaloosa, Iowa – Sitting just inside the door of Mahaska Drug on Saturday morning was a group from the Oskaloosa Shooting Team, who helped bring home a national shooting title.
The winning squad for Oskaloosa consisted of Ethan Herr, Brandon Salevsky and Zack Salevsky, taking the title in dominant fashion by 20.
Not only did the Oskaloosa Shooting Team take the national title, but they also had a team take third. A nearly unprecedented moment when a single shooting team had two teams on the podium.
Third place team consisted of Colin Fiechtner, Aaron Vos, and Ethan Vos.
Other winners at the event include Megan Vos, who placed third in Intermediate ladies, while Ethan Herr placed 7th in the senior men’s division.
The team had recently placed second at the Junior Olympic Shoot in Waukee just weeks before, where they lost by four birds on only a day’s practice. “It’s tough to be at the top when you don’t work hard. We worked hard before we went to nationals. We had plenty good enough scores to go,” explained Larry Gay, Head Coach of the Oskaloosa Shooting Team.
Gay spoke about the time commitment and desire the shooting team puts in to achieve the level of success they have.
The team practices international skeet three nights a week. “We probably put in 16 hours a week,” explained Gay, who says they did that for the month leading up to the competition.
“I was quite confident before we went that we could win because we have, all the kids are really solid; and the three that actually won the championship, they’re really good.”
“And the three right behind them,” Gay said of Oskaloosa’s other team to make the trip, “They are really solid. They’re good. There’s not much difference between them.”
The Oskaloosa Shooting Team jumped out to a big lead on the first day of competition. “It would be tough for anybody to be so good on the second day to go past you,” explained Gay of the two-day competition.
“The second day, I was a little nervous. We didn’t come out of the box shooting like I thought we would. We picked it up, and we actually extended our lead.”
There is a financial cost for the team members to participate and go on the trips like the national championship one in Colorado Springs in international skeet.
Gay explained that the entire team works to raise money with various efforts that include a raffle, pancake breakfast, and redeeming cans. There is also an endowment that the team can draw some money from as well.
This was the team’s second national championship, with the first coming in American Skeet held in Sparta, Illinois.
Currently, there are 42 members on the Oskaloosa Shooting Team.
You can learn more by visiting the Oskaloosa Shooting Team’s Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/Oskaloosa-Shooting-Team-222163954790125/
