Ten Nouvel Catholic Central students represented Nouvel at the USA High School Clay Target League’s National Championship held in Mason, Michigan July 7^th – 10^th, which drew over 1,700 individual shooters, over 230 five-person teams and over 30,000 spectators from across the country. 

The National Championship concludes the spring season, which ran from late-March through mid-June, and included five weeks of regular season competitions and a State tournament. According to the League, the 2022 Spring season had a record-breaking 31,688 student athletes with more than 1,466 high school, college and homeschool teams nationwide. 

In only it’s second season to offer the sport, Nouvel fielded two teams (five-person squads) and all 10 athletes also qualified and elected to participate at the individual level as well. Clay targets weren’t the only obstacles the shooters faced during Friday’s team qualifying rounds. Mother Nature was also at work as Nouvel faced monsoon like rain during their final rounds of the day. At the end of the qualifying rounds, Nouvel’s teams finished 107^th and 222^nd, with Team 1 (Charlie Beldyga, Josh Koester, Ryan McDonald, Matthew Sadowski and Thomas Witten) hitting 457 out of 500 targets, and Team 2 (Brooklyn Dobson, Christian Lopez, Valentino Medina, Jacob Miros and Ryan Zamora, II) hitting 403 out of 500, with both teams missing the cut, which was 464 targets,  to compete in the finals on Sunday.

On Saturday’s individual qualifying rounds, Nouvel had a strong showing with two of their shooters, junior Ryan McDonald and senior Josh Koester, making it into Sunday’s finals with a 98 and a 95 out of 100, respectively. Out of 1,716 shooters, sophomore Charlie Beldyga finished 819^th with an 89, junior Thomas Witten finished 933^rd with an 88, senior Matthew Sadowski finished 984^th with an 88, junior Jacob Miros finished 1,162^nd with an 86, 7^th grader Brooklyn Dobson finished 1,451^st with an 80, 8^th grader Christian Lopez finished 1,504^th with a 78, sophomore Ryan Zamora, II finished 1,529^th with a 78 and 8^th grader Valentino Medina finished 1,599^th with a 75. 

In Sunday’s individual finals, Nouvel qualifiers Ryan McDonald and Josh Koester, competed against the 400 top shooters from Saturday, all with a score of 94 or better. Koester hit an impressive 75 straight before missing one in his final 25 for a total of 99 on the day and a cumulative 194. McDonald finished the day with a 96 and a cumulative 194. It was great to witness the comradery and team spirit of the two shooters excited for their teammate’s success, knowing they were competing head-to-head against each other for top shooter in the country. At the end of the day, based on the reverse runs, (final score back to the last target missed), Ryan McDonald with a reverse run of 23, and Josh Koester with a reverse run of 21, finished the championship rounds ranked as the 87^h and 88^th best USA High School Clay Target League shooters in the country (out of 1,716).

Other notable achievements this season include:

• Nouvel’s 3^rd place Conference finish,
• All State Team Honors – Ryan McDonald 
• 75 Straight – Josh Koester, Ryan McDonald
• 50 Straights – Josh Koester, Ryan McDonald
• 25 Straights – Charlie Beldyga, Josh Koester, Ryan McDonald, Matthew Sadowski, Thomas Witten

Any Nouvel students grades 6^th – 12^th who are interested in learning more about the Nouvel Clay Target team are encouraged to contact Coach Witten at (989) 573-1101 or srwitten@me.com for more information. Registration for the Fall season will begin in early August.