Hello OCTT families! We are back from the USA High School Clay Target League Nationals in Michigan. Brian and I wanted to share our experience with you in hopes that other families will choose to participate with their athletes in the future.

Taylor has had the privilege of qualifying the last few years, but busy summer plans have always held us back. We knew this summer we wanted to make it happen for her, so we planned ahead to make a family vacation out of the trip. The whole event was Thursday, July 6th- Monday, July 10th (possible rain date.) It was like Alexandria, but even bigger!

July 6th was a practice day with fun events on-site at the range in the afternoon. We were there for about 4 hours in the afternoon. Looks like there's some on-site camping, but seems as though most people drive to the range each day. The trap range is in Mason, a small town that is an easy 10-mile drive south of Lansing, Michigan.

The 7th was the day for team competition and/or more practice rounds for individuals. Taylor did a few more practice rounds, and made friends with high school shooters from around the country while waiting in line. Again, we were at the range for just 3-4 hours. There were more vendors and food stands than at Alexandria, plus an area set up for lawn games. Many teams from MN were there- Prior Lake, Austin, Northfield, Tri-City were some that I recognized.

Individual competition was on Saturday 8th, we received the flight schedule about 2-weeks ahead of time.  We arrived by 7:30 am to get a spot near our trap 2, and participated in the opening ceremony at 8:30. Shooting started at 9:00 sharp. Taylor was in flight 6 out of 9 flights for her first 50 targets. They have 44 traps!!! The place is huge! The friend she met the day before shot on trap 39... so we did a lot of walking!! It was set up similar to Alexandria- shooting 50, then starting the flights over for the 2nd 50. The top 400  qualify to shoot on Sunday in the "finals." There were 3000 athletes total, 1800 there as individuals. Taylor's 89/100 put her in 1068th place out of 1800. It looked like the top 400 were shooting 95/100 or better! There were quite a few 100 straights! We watched the standings on the leaderboard similar to Alexandria, so we knew she didn't make it to
Sunday's finals. We decided on Sunday to make the drive home a day early. The tricky part is needing to plan for the best (shooting on Sunday) or the worst (rain delay pushing the event into Monday.)

Overall, we are glad we made the trip! Taylor would like to have shot better, but it was a learning experience to travel, shoot in a new place/with strangers/under tight competition. Perfect experience for heading into the college competitions.

The event was well organized and well run. Parking was organized, systematic, and no added fees. Taylor received her targets, a shirt and pin with her $95 registration, plus there was plenty of other swag for purchase. Otherwise prices were reasonable.  Beyond the shooting, there was a lot of hanging out, similar to Alexandria. As mentioned before, some teams even brought big setups with tents/grills. These team tents seemed to be set as early as Thursday already. And porta-potties... lots of porta-potties spread out on the grounds.

For anyone who might be interested in the future- I'd recommend the event. Let us know if you have any questions.