Reece Craighton shared valuable information with the newspaper team regarding the North Polk High School Trap Team that occurs year round. 

While the North Polk Trap team is not school affiliated, it is still made up of North Polk students. The trap team is considered a shooting sport. Craighton shared, “You have a team of five people otherwise known as a squad. Those five people will go up to the line to shoot. In this sport, the shooter will shoot one box, or 25 shells at a time. The shooter’s final score is based on how many clays they hit within that 25 shots.”

The person lined up to shoot is aiming at an orange disk made out of clay. The disk, also known as a clay pigeon, gets shot out of the trap house at about 40 miles per hour. 

“Trap is evenly split between team competition, and individual competition. Shooters, and their teams, get a score each. On competition day, everyone needs to work their hardest because every point counts for everything,” Craighton stated. Depending on how the team or individual places, they are rewarded with medals for either individual or team performance. 

Although the trap team has five people per squad at competitions, the varsity team is made up of eight people. The number of people on the team differs often from people joining and leaving, “but we always work our hardest, and come out on top,” mentioned Craighton

To prepare for competitions, the trap team has practices that are held at Ames Izaak Walton League or Olfson Shooting Range near Polk City. They practice on Sundays and Mondays, and attend the practice time they have signed up for. The shooter has to practice twice a week for as long as they would like, unless a coach has to leave. 

When it comes to what type of gun they use when they shoot, Craighton mentioned, “Any type of shotgun can be used, but an over, under, or semi-automatic work best. The gauges most commonly used are 20 gauge. and 12 gauge. A 12 gauge works best. I personally use a Tristar Viper V2 sporting a 12 gauge. I have used this gun for about 5 years, and it has not given me a single problem.”

As mentioned above, the trap team is not school affiliated, which requires the participants to be able to fund themselves. Craighton shared, “Ammo cost is covered by the participant. To shoot rounds, shooters have to buy a round card that helps pay for the facility fees. The participants also have to pay for their own gun. Competition expenses are paid for by the team. So almost everything is paid for by the participant and their family.”