ROSE CREEK — After picking up trap shooting four years ago, Carter Conradt of Rose Creek recently went up against the best in the country and he proved he belonged.

Conradt won the Minnesota state tournament in shotgun discipline in Alexandria last October, and he moved on to the 4-H national meet in Grand Island, Neb. where he took sixth place out of 109 shooters.

“It was really fun. There was a lot of really good shooters and it was really cool to learn about where they’re from,” Conradt said. “It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. I was going in confident.”

Conradt averages a score of 96 out of 100 targets and he shot a 94 at the national meet. While he enjoyed competing, Conradt also liked meeting trap shooters from around the country. In his group, he competed trap shooters from Illinois, Colorado, New Mexico and Montana.

Conradt said it takes a lot of discipline to stay focused when aiming at 25 straight targets.

“It’s not hard and anyone can shoot,” Conradt said. “It just becomes a mind game, because you shoot 25 at a time and hitting them all is pretty hard. You have to stay focused, just like shooting a free throw in basketball.”

When Conradt started trap shooting, Southland didn’t have a team yet so he competed with the Glenville-Emmons trap shooting team. That’s where he learned the basics of the sport.

“Their coach really led me along and I learned a lot from him,” Conradt said. “Then I kept practicing and kept getting better.”

While Conradt thrives in the environment of trap shooting, he hasn’t exactly caught the hunting bug yet.

“I’m a pretty bad hunter actually, I just enjoy sitting in the woods if I go hunting. It’s nice,” he said.

Conradt will be a senior at Southland High School this fall.