With trap shooting experiencing exponential growth throughout the area, Allen Community College introduced its newest sports program earlier this week.

Trap shooting continues to grow among area high schools.

Just look about 25 miles east, where Uniontown High school started up its own team during the 2024-25 school year, and within weeks had more than 40 kids registered.

Humboldt High School, which started its program in 2018-19, will average around 50 members ? some coming from neighboring districts ? each spring.

Allen Community College, looking to tap into the trend, started its own trap shooting team this fall.

The Allen program has six members so far, with co-head coaches Jeremy Hess and Josh Wrestler optimistic that number will quickly grow.

?We?ve heard from quite a few kids who want to check it out,? Hess said. ?If anyone wants to come down, we?ll bring them out (to the shooting range) and have them shoot five shells. They?ll usually know by then.?

Allen took part in its first ever formal shooting competition Saturday in Sedgwick with members Jaryt Hess ? Jeremy Hess? son ? Weston Cleaver, Jozie Stagg and Sheldon Weber participating in the singles category.

How did it go?

?Could have been better,? said Stagg, a Uniontown graduate in her first year at Allen. ?But it was fun.?

The elder Hess and Wrestler also coach the Humboldt program. And just like they have done at Allen, they were behind the launch of the Humboldt High program seven years ago. In fact, they continue to coach both teams.

?We?ll delegate some of our responsibilities in Humboldt in the spring, when the schedule picks up,? Wrestler said. ?But we?ll still help them make decisions.?

Also helping with the workload at Allen is assistant coach Destry Roye, an adjunct agriculture instructor at ACC.

The Allen program took root last spring when Wrestler and the elder Hess met up with Larry Gleue, who coaches a shooting team at Southern Coffey County High School.

?We just noticed how there are quite a few colleges throughout the state who have a program,? Hess said. ?We thought it?d be great for Allen to start one, too.?

Wrestler and Hess reached out to Allen athletics director Doug Desmarteau, who in turn received the blessing from Allen administrators and trustees, noting the draw for students, both locally and abroad.

What they?ve found is that shooting sports often appeal to students who may not excel at other sports.

While at Humboldt, Stagg played volleyball and softball, but always favored trap shooting.

?I?m just better at it naturally than I am at the other sports,? she explained. ?But I also like it because I like to put the competition more upon myself. It?s really a sport against yourself, to see if you can do better.?

Cleaver, a Chanute graduate who was a part of the Humboldt team since its inception, agreed.

?I like being more reliant upon myself,? he said.

As an aside, Chanute also has started its own shooting team. Stagg?s family members were behind the effort to add shooting sports at UHS.

THE COLLEGIANS practice twice a week at Lone Tree Gun Club, a picturesque shooting range south of LaHarpe, where sessions alternate between the outdoor shooting range, where clay targets are launched from the trap house, 16 yards ahead of the participants.

Then, students head indoors, where laser-tipped guns are used to target digital images flying across a screen.

Wednesday?s practice session was particularly impressive for Stagg, Cleaver and the younger Hess, who shot a combined 75 times at the outdoor targets. They successfully hit the clay traps on 74 of them.

The team received a boost when students on Allen?s livestock judging team learned about the shooting sports opportunity, adding two more team members to the mix.

?We?ve heard from a few other kids who want to check it out,? Coach Hess said. ?We?ll need to check with their coaches to see when they can give it a try.?

The squad will likely host a field day at some point this year.

Likewise, Allen coaches will attend other events through the school year.

?We?re always recruiting,? Hess said. ?We?d like to get to 20? team members.

?Jeremey and I go all the area shoots, and if we see a kid shooting, we?ll give them a flyer,? Wrestler said.

THE FALL schedule includes two live shoots, and then a series of ?virtual? competitions in which the members will shoot at targets at Lone Tree, then record their scores against other colleges.

Allen is one of a handful within the Jayhawk Conference to have established a shooting program. Butler County, Coffeyville and Cowley County are the others.

The aim is for the Jayhawk Conference to sanction shooting sports as a conference event, but there are plenty of opportunities regardless.

Team members are required to use their own shotguns.

Newcomers are also required to either complete a hunter safety course, or a similar safety program before they?re allowed to take part.

?We really suggest if somebody wants to try it, they should come out to the range and use one of our (shotguns) first,? Coach Hess said. ?You want to make sure you enjoy something like this before you spend your money on it.?

That?s usually not much of a hurdle to clear.

?What we?ve found is that the kids want to come out, and if they want to come out, they?ll do well at it,? Hess said. ?And if they do well at it, the more fun they have.?

Article and Photo Credit: Iola Register