College shooting starts at Minot State | News, sports, jobs

Submitted photo Members of the Minot State University Trap Shooting Club pose for a photo after a team event at the Minot Gun Club. Pictured are, from left, Lane Evanson, Bailey Upgren, Trinity Boivin, Peyton Lammerding, Kaile Nodland, Ryan Kostenko, Logan Dosko, Tayton Vondra, Kirstin Nelson and Dakota McGee.

Collegiate trapshooting is still in its infancy at Minot State University.

According to Lane Evenson and Bailey Upgren, the sky is the limit for the Minot State University (MSU) Trap Shooting Club.

The talented duo is a big reason why.

“I am looking forward to this season and looking forward to going to the filming that we will go to as a team,” Upgren said. “It was already a good season. We have experienced people in the club and some are new to shooting and that makes it fun to be part of this new group. It was super exciting to be at the helm of this club,” Evanson added. “We have been more stable this year and hope we can continue to do so. It’s exciting to go to events as a full team, put on a uniform and represent Minot State.”

Evenson and Upgren are both juniors at Minot State University, studying computer science and early childhood education, respectively. But their paths to MSU and trap shooting for the Beavers couldn’t be more different.

Evanson, the club’s president that year and one of the original proponents of bringing trapshooting to MSU, started at Minot State University after high school and graduated from Berthold High School. After arriving at MSU, he inquired about starting a club to continue a successful high school career.

“I started in seventh grade, pretty early, and was able to shoot at all sorts of competitions all over the state and even as far away as Wisconsin and Michigan.” Evanson said. “I was lucky enough to have shot at national teams a few times. When I visited Minot State, I asked: What’s the process of starting a club? I had heard rumors that there was interest, but I wasn’t sure. We started this last year and I think we had seven people involved. I was elected president and have been working to expand it ever since.”

Upgren, on the other hand, started attending Bismarck State College after high school and sought out a school that offered trapshooting as part of her decision. After completing her two-year degree at BSC, she sought out trapshooting again to complement her early childhood education studies.

She had two tours planned when choosing a school, but canceled her second tour after attending Minot State.

“There are only two in the state that have what I wanted, so I thought I would look at both, but after traveling around here and meeting with Lane and a few other people from the team and the early childhood education department “I literally canceled my other trip on the way home,” Upgren said. “It was exciting to see the direction in which the brand new team was developing, and when I found out more about the club, the decision to move was a lot easier.”

Club advisor Paul Brekke, who directs Minot State’s Wellness Center, believes the duo has helped the club make significant progress.

“The club is entering its second year of existence and we are clarifying some details over time” Brekke said. “The students are excited about the opportunity to participate and want to see it grow. Lane and Bailey have great experience in the sport which will contribute to the development and growth of the club.”

While their path to MSU is different, the beginning of trapshooting is similar. Both grew up hunting and are familiar with shooting sports. For Upgren, the transition from hunting to competition was a learning curve, but one she fell in love with.

“I had a little trouble with technique because I’m left-dominant and shoot with my right hand.” Upgren said. “I had a friend in high school who was super good at clay pigeon shooting and convinced me to go out. By my senior year, it was something I really enjoyed doing and I knew I always wanted to be involved.”

Evanson credits his father with sparking his interest in trapshooting.

“I was first taught by my father, and he coached me and worked with me throughout high school.” Evanson said. “He really helped me get better at trapshooting and event shooting, and eventually I really found a passion for it.”

Both Evanson and Upgren believe it takes a passion for the sport, especially when playing it at the collegiate club level, where practices and competitions are organized almost entirely by students. MSU has a part-time coach, Jake Thrailkill, alongside Brekke, but relies primarily on students to run the club.

“I’m hoping the program grows so we can add more coaches and more structure, but it’s been a great program from the start.” Evanson said. “We now have a coach who has helped us enormously and it’s great to work with Paul. We value both very much. But we hope to have more coaches who will give us more opportunities to be successful and develop as shooters in the future.”

“We do a lot of scheduling and work to get to training or filming; There’s not necessarily a coach or someone pushing us to be at training,” Upgren said. “You have to motivate yourself to get to filming on your own, and to be honest it takes a lot of character when you’re recording your results and so on.”

Growing the club requires work from current members, but the duo both experienced growth in their local clubs in high school and see tremendous potential for MSU.

“I know so many people who are interested in the shooting sports, a lot of shooters come from high school in the Bismarck area.” Upgren said. “The creation of this club will only attract more people to MSU, and we hope to pave the way for this to be a fun and exciting club to join.”

Both also know that there is potential for growth in the community.

“We are working on some fundraisers and ways to get our name out in the community.” Evanson said. “We even work to volunteer in the community because we believe community is everything. To be successful you have to have the community behind you.”

While the duo have been instrumental in the club’s success, Evanson also believes the entire group will help make this a successful year.

“As this club is still in its early stages, it’s all hands on deck.” Evanson said. “Everyone has a role to play in helping the company grow and become more closely connected to the community. What they do for the club is incredibly important.”

MSU’s fall roster includes Trinity Boivin, Holter Bridwell, Logan Dosko, Ryan Kostenko, Peyton Lammerding, Mason Lemer, Dakota McGee, Kirstin Nelson, Kaile Nodland, Hadyn Schuler and Tayton Vondra, as well as Evanson and Upgren.