When your school doesn’t have a trapshooting team, it might be difficult to practice the sport. But that isn’t enough to stop Alanna Fangmeier, who travels 23 miles from Hebron to Fairbury, Nebraska to ensure she can participate in trapshooting competitions. Although she attends Thayer Central, Fangmeier practices and competes with the Fairbury trap team.
Despite being the only girl on the high school trap team, Fangmeier hardly feels out of her depth in a sport she’s been competing in since she was in sixth grade.
“I really enjoy that it’s a team sport but it’s also an individual sport as well,” she said. “It’s for me to do my best so my teammates can do their best.”
As an avid trapshooter, Fangmeier welcomes the opportunity to work on her skills through weekly practices on Monday and Thursday. In addition, she is beginning to work with digital shooting tools to further enhance her ability. To help put that practice into action, Fangmeier has competed in trapshooting in the last two Cornhusker State Games and is registered for the 2019 Games as well.
“It’s another opportunity for trapshooters to get out and do some shooting,” she said. “I feel like having more shoots other than just conference shoots and the state shoot, it really advocates for trapshooting and just promotes other kids to try it.”
More than just a trapshooting fanatic, Fangmeier stays busy with a variety of sports and competitions. With cross country in the fall, basketball and speech in the winter, and trapshooting and track in the spring, a multitude of athletic events help test the 15-year-old.
“I’m a very competitive person, so it’s really fun for me to get to do lots of different sports and lots of different things so I can express my competitiveness,” Fangmeier said.
The learning curve in trapshooting has been part of the fun for Fangmeier, as she went from struggling to hit targets when she started the sport, to medaling in official competitions two years later.
“It was just really cool to see how much progress you could go through in so little time,” she said.
For now, Fangmeier will continue developing her trapshooting talents with her eyes on top finishes in high school trapshooting and at the Cornhusker State Games.
“It’s just a really fun sport to do and it’s something different that not a lot of people think about any more,” she said.
Registration is currently open for the 2019 Cornhusker State Games. Featuring competition in 70 sports, participants can find more information and register online at our 2019 Sport Listing
