WEEKENDER BLOG

If you were out and about in the Cedar Valley this past weekend you probably didn’t realize there was a sporting event going on in Cedar Falls with over 900 participants and a couple thousand spectators. Why not? Well unless you were to venture out to the beautiful corn fields and wide open spaces just north of North Cedar you wouldn’t see the 200 campers and lines of parked cars, and you wouldn’t hear the pop of a shot gun hitting a clay bird.

That’s right, this past weekend was the 2012 Iowa High School State Trap Shoot meet. The meet was held at the Cedar Falls Gun Club which is also home grounds for the Iowa State Trapshooting Association, about four miles north of North Cedar on Center Street. This site features 37 trap shoot fields with 5 posts at each and is the biggest trap shoot venue in the state…to do the quick math for you that means there were about 185 shooters competing at any given time!

This past meet previewed about 800 novelty athletes on Friday and a little more than 900 high school athletes on Saturday. The winner for the All-State High School Division was New Hampton High School, the All-State High School Boys winner was Colt Schmidt with the New Hampton Trapshooting team, and the All-State High School Girls winner was Katie Marzolf also with the New Hampton Trapshooting. A few of the athletes will be heading to For a listing of full results check out the Iowa Department of Natural Resources website. Besides the action of the shots never ending, this year also saw much more excitement in the number of participants and spectators. The Iowa Trap Shooting Association had an increase of approximately 200 high school athletes just this year and an increase of approximately 20% every year for the past few years according to Debra Oelmann.

Since most of you probably missed the meet this past weekend you should not get upset just yet… in just 49 days the 136th Annual Iowa State Shoot meet will start on Wednesday July 25th and end on Sunday July 29th. That gives you 5 days to head out there and see what this sport is really about! While you are out there check out the 30+ vendors selling anything from t-shirts to guns to deep fried pork tenderloins. YUM! Gunsmiths will also be available at the event so for all you hunters out there that need to get ready for the upcoming season stop on out!

Now I know you are pumped up about the next trap shoot meet, but will this blog make you actually get out there? Well here is my challenge, if you are sitting at home or in your office and can say to yourself “Hmm…I have never seen a trap shot competition before” then I challenge you to attend in 49 days because I know you will not be disappointed.

For more information on the 136th Annual Iowa State Trap Shoot Meet check out: http://www.iowastateshoot.com/

To view a photo gallery of this weekends event check out our flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/visitcedarfalls/

Written by Chelsea Hartman

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