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FAIRMONT — A team of 35 athletes from the Fairmont High School trap team travel to the state of Alexandria this weekend. Previously, the team coached by Scott Fuhrman had finished fourth out of eight schools at the regional conference, although Fairmont’s team included many younger athletes compared to some of its competitors.
The team consists of 35 of the team’s 50 athletes, organized into seven groups of five. Which five students do best at the state conference can compete in the state tournament next week.
The squad with the most points consists of Cass Davis, Colby Leiding, Ethan Madson, Adam Wohlhuter and Dane Breitbarth. Breitbarth, an 8th grader, was this year’s top varsity shooter and one of the youngest team members to make it since the team’s inception. After graduating from varsity in the 6th grade, he wrote in it in both the 6th and 7th grades.
“He wants to shoot well for himself, but he also wants to shoot well for his teammates. … He’s always pressuring himself to be good at anything, be it science or something. Anything he seems to pick up, he puts his whole heart into.” said Jared Breitbarth, Dane’s father.
Dane practices trap shooting with his teammates and family up to three days a week. On Wednesdays he shoots league in Truman and attends practice. On Thursdays he shoots with his father and grandfather Rich Wolf.
“He’s working on it and it’s like any other sport. The more you work at it, the better you become.” said wolf.
“It’s exciting, but I also like the challenge. I’m shooting against a lot of better kids and… I like to compare myself to the other kids to see where I’m at and how I’m doing.” says Dane when asked if he’s competing in the state.
Some of Dane’s favorite things about trap shooting are the opportunity to do the activity as a family and the opportunity to later shoot traps in high school and as an adult. Once he graduates from high school, Dane hopes to make the top 100 in the state and keep improving. Last season he just missed that goal; The threshold for the top 100 was 23.5 of 25 targets, while Dane shot 23.2.
At a tournament last Thursday in Owatonna, Dane set a new personal record by hitting 232 of 250 targets and finished first in his sub-junior class and first in class D.
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