Sanborn County’s 4-H members Aaron and Nathan Linke, and Coach Art Kneen joined a busload of South Dakota 4-H members to attend the National 4-H Shooting competition in Grand Island, Neb., this past June.
The Linke brothers were part of the four-person 22 Rifle team, along with Kayley Wika of Brookings and Mary Nold of Brookings.  The team was coached by Brad Ruden of Bruce. Kneen was chosen as the coach for the four-person Air Pistol  team with members Krista Dvorak, Gracie Wold, Jesse Mills and Seth Shorb.
The 22 Rifle event began with silhouettes on day one.  Shooters have two and a half minutes each to shoot 10 chickens at 10 yards, 10 pigs at 12.5 yards, 10 turkeys at 15 yards and 10 rams at 18 yards.  The South Dakota team placed 12th of 19 teams.
Day two was CMP Rimfire Sporter Rifle competition.  Team members each shoot 60 shots for record.  In the prone and sitting or kneeling positions, the target range is 50 yards.  They shoot 10 shots in 10 minutes for slow fire prone, two five-shot strings in 25 seconds each for rapid fire prone, then repeat this sequence in the sitting or kneeling position. Shooters then move to standing position with a target range of 25 yards and repeat the sequence.  The South Dakota team placed 13th of 19 teams.
Day three of 22 Rifle competition was NRA 3-Position.  Team members each shoot 60 shots for record.  Shooters have 20 minutes to shoot the prone position, 30 minutes for the kneeling position and 40 minutes for standing, with a target range of 50 yards. During this competition, shooters may wear shooting coats, trousers, gloves and/or shoes. The South Dakota team placed seventh of 19 teams. Overall, the SD team placed 11th of 19 teams.
The Air Pistol event began with the timed fire/rapid fire combo. For the timed fire, the competitors shoot 20 shots at 10 meters in a time of 20 seconds per string of five shots.  For the rapid fire, they shoot 20 shots at 10 meters in a time of 10 seconds per string of five shots. The South Dakota team placed sixth of 15 teams.
The second day was the silhouette competition.   Shooters have two and a half minutes each to shoot 10 chickens at 40 meters, 10 pigs at 60 meters, 10 turkeys at 77 meters and 10 rams at 100 meters. The SD team placed third.
The final day was the slow fire bullseye competition.  Shooters have 60 minutes for 40 shots at 10 meters. The event used electronic targets that registered and scored the shot immediately, as well as displaying the results on a monitor that each shooter had at their lane. The South Dakota team placed fifth of 15 teams.
Overall, the SD team placed fourth of 15 teams. Dvorack placed eighth of 63, Wold 14th, and Shorb 21st.
Other results for South Dakota teams were as follows:  Overall Archery Recurve – sixth team of 16, 11th individual – Wade McClanahan; Overall Archery Compound, Eighth individual – Rylie Shull;  22 Pistol Camp Perry – Sixth team; Compound Archery 3-D, Seventh individual – Rylie Shull, Seventh team; Recurve Field – 12th individual – Brandon Haber; fourth team; Recurve FITA, Eighth individual – Wade McClanahan.

The Air Pistol team is pictured with their third place medals from the silhouette competition: Coach Art Kneen, Jesse Mills, Gracie Wold, Krista Dvorak and Seth Shorb.