Quincy School Board expands trap shooting program

QUINCY (WGEM) - A popular Quincy High School activity will expand this spring to junior high students.

According to our news-gathering partners at the Herald-Whig, the Quincy School Board, meeting in special session Wednesday, approved a trap team program at Quincy Junior High School.

Plans call for the new team to begin competing in March with the start of the spring season of the Illinois State High School Clay Target League.

“We’ve already got kids shooting and shooting very well at their ages. It’s just a matter of them putting on the uniform of the Comets and shooting for Quincy Junior High,” said Glenn Sanders, president of the Mississippi Valley Hunters and Fishermen’s Association, which will provide financial support for the new team.

Quincy High School added trap shooting for the 2021-22 year, and organizers wanted to launch a junior high program at the same time.

“We didn’t feel ready to jump on board for both. We wanted to see how the high school would go, and it’s gone very well,” QHS Athletic Director Matt McClelland said.

Next steps call for providing information to parents about the new team and holding a team meeting.

“We’re hoping to have 15 to 20 junior high kids or more be interested,” McClelland said, and with the program feeding into the high school team, “It will build and let kids shoot for more years, be involved and represent their school.”

Sanders said some 170 young people already participate in Mississippi Valley shooting programs.

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