'It's kind of like golf, only louder'

It all started just before Christmas last year, when Joey Pleskonko handed Steve Noble a couple of sheets of loose leaf paper.
It was information Joey’s dad, Joe Pleskonko, had about the Minnesota State High School Clay Target League. They wanted a team.
“I checked it out that morning, ran some stuff off and was up at the principal’s office about 15 minutes later,” Noble said. “She said, ‘That looks like a good deal.’”
Joe Pleskonko — a member of the Caribou Gun Club in Le Sueur since 1985 — got the information from Randy Voss. Voss, co-owner of the Caribou, is a guy, legend claims, who can shoot a mosquito’s wings off from 100 yards away.
Now, five months later, Bethlehem Academy has a trap shooting team, one that’s in the middle of its season and working to have a strong showing at the state tournament June 11-12.
“It was like wildfire,” said Joe Pleskonko of how quickly the team grew.
The team has nine members in its inaugural season and is coached by Noble. Joe Pleskonko is the assistant coach. Eight of the team’s members are BA students and one is from Faribault High School. Five of the nine participate in other spring sports, too (two in baseball, two in track and field and one in golf).
April was a practice month for the team, and boy did they need it. Hitting moving targets fluttering through the wind launched from a post 16 yards ahead of the gun’s barrel in inclement weather has its challenges.
“It’s humbling to see,” Joe Pleskonko said. “It’s not as easy as it looks.”
Team members were hitting five to 10 clays per round during their first week (out of rounds of 25). Now, with the help of their coaches and established trap shooters Voss, his brother Scott Voss and Bill Diers, the team is getting pretty good.
“I thought it was easy when I first walked out there, and then I shot 11 the first week,” Joey Pleskonko said. “With those guys helping I’m shooting 20 (per round) now.”
The team shoots competitively every Monday night in Le Sueur. They compete against other teams four times during May by submitting scores online. Each team has a certain window available to get its competition in and submit a score before 6 p.m. on Saturdays.
Joey Pleskonko, a sophomore, has the team’s top individual total with 20 clays hit in one round, a feat he’s done the last two weeks. Tim Angell, another sophomore, has notched 19 once. Joe Pleskonko said the team average is around 14.
“We’ve come a long way,” Joe Pleskonko said.
Twenty-nine teams make up the MSHSCTL, which is more than double the number of teams registered last year. The 29 teams are divided into four conferences.
The Cardinals’ coaches aren’t paid, nor is the program funded. Since it didn’t come about until December it was too late to be eligible for funding. The team hopes to get a little financial aid next year and those involved said a small amount would go a long way. The kids supply their own guns and buy their own shells. They have to pay for each round of clays they shoot, too.
The main point the BA coaches emphasize is that it gives kids a chance to compete in a different kind of sport.
“We’re doing it to get the kids involved in it,” Noble said. “It’s something fun to do and something they can do their whole lives.”
Joe Pleskonko told the story of one sharp-shooting professional trap shooter, who after going a long period of time without shooting clays, decided to give it another try at a tournament. His aim was still dead-on, and the next day he walked away with $8,000.
“There is an opportunity there,” Joe Pleskonko said. “I don’t know if we have any of those kids (who can do that), but they can do this when they are 70 years old, and that’s an opportunity. And it’s fun.”
Noble agreed.
“It’s kind of like golf,” said Noble, referring to another sport that can be done at any age. “Just louder.”