The Ellsworth Claybreakers put on a show in the scorching heat at the National Trapshooting Championship in Michigan, with the team landing in eighth place out of 261 teams July 14. The squad also landed a pair of its competitors in the individual finals of the competition.

One of the coaches, Denton Achenbach, said this was the highest finish at nationals in the team’s history, with a score of 481 out of 500 in the finals. The team’s previous best fell at 36th place with a score of 468. This was the team’s 10th nationals appearance.

Achenbach said he has taken many teams full of great shooters, but this team had lots of cohesion and were as mentally strong as any.

“It’s about 60-70% mental, about 30% skill,” Achenbach said. “So to find five kids that can shoot together and not affect one another when they’re shooting poorly or shooting well and still be able to stay steady [is difficult].”

To make the finals, the squad needed to post a score of 463, and they shot a 471. The nationals team was made up of Kehan O’Neil, Chace Kressin, Carter Moldenhauer, Braydon Anderson, Ethan Hinrichs and first alternate Landon Anderson.

Ellsworth left the rest of the Wisconsin teams in the dust, with the second highest Wisconsin team, Clear Lake, finishing 27th with a score of 473.

Individually, O’Neil and Anderson qualified for the individual finals after posting scores of 96 and 97 out of 100 to land in the top-400 of 1,800 competitors. In the finals, Anderson scored 95 to land in 225th place and O’Neil scored a 94 to take 273rd.

Achenbach said most members of the team are either involved in another sport or work a manual labor job, and it paid off at nationals. With blistering heat over the weekend, many teams were exhausted by the time the finals came around. The Ellsworth squad felt much more rested.

“This time that heat helped, and one of the things that it helped us was because my kids, they practiced twice a week for the last month… and they come and practice after work,” Achenbach said. “For them, it was hot Saturday, but they didn’t even have to work. They were just sitting around waiting to shoot.”

O’Neil and Hinrichs were both seniors, and Achenbach said they have meant a lot to the team. Achenbach said they have been top shooters for the team in recent years.

“They’re both phenomenal young men and they’re great mentors,” Achenbach said. “We’re going to miss them a lot.”

O’Neil put on a show during the team rounds, shooting 99 both times. While he did not post as high of scores in the individual rounds, he put the team in a position to fight for a top-10 spot. Hinrichs was the vocal leader for the team, keeping them energized the whole way.

“Kehan was kind of our silent leader, he just kind of got the job done,” Achenbach said. “Ethan was kind of our, ‘Come on guys, you gotta believe.’”

Achenbach gave a major thank you to fellow coaches Jesse Thurmes, Chris Kilness, Lee Wright, Mike Moldenhauer and their sponsors.