The State Fair Community College (SFCC) Shooting Sports team is busy preparing for the upcoming NCSSAA National Championships on March 13-18 at the Clark County Shooting Complex in Las Vegas, Nevada.

NJ McKenzie, Connor Hess, Anthony Walls, Braiden McEachern, Hunter Snow, Will VanVactor, Matthew Richardson, Ben Engemann, Daniel Younger-Losing, Arthur Sims, Aidan Meyer, and Philip Crawford qualified for the Championships for the Roadrunners.

"We will shoot our traditional three events, American Trap, American Skeet, and Sporting Clays along with Skeet Doubles, Trap Doubles, and Super Sporting Clays," said Head Coach Sarah Manuel. "There will be a total of six different events."

Coach Manuel has been happy with her team's preparation for the event.

"Our last big shoot was in Dallas," said Manuel. "It was a nice warm-up for this competition, as we got to see a lot of the same competition that will be in Las Vegas. We just need to keep our heads down and get that mental focus right now. They are physically 100% capable of hitting every one of those targets. Now, it comes down to the mental focus."

Coach Manuel has been impressed with her team throughout the season, but one group stood out.

"NJ McKenzie has been hot from the start of the season," said Manuel. "He is our Squad Leader One. I can honestly say I'm very impressed with all my squads, but Squad One has jelled very well."

Connor Hess, Anthony Walls, Braiden McEachern, and Hunter Snow join McKenzie on Squad One.

Coach Manuel has some expectations for her team as they headed towards the National Championships.

"It would be my dream to celebrate a national victory," said Manuel. "Our team has grown quite a bit in my second year. We are competing in Division Five which is the largest division of the competition. There will be 10 other two-year institutions at the event. It will be good to compete against all of them together."

David Rohrbach

SFCC Athletics