Elee Reynolds, a Baldwin Junior High School sixth-grader, takes aim at a clay target Saturday, Oct. 7, 2017 at Cedar Hill Gun Club north of Baldwin City while Baldwin City Fire Chief Terry Baker reloads his shotgun. The two were competing in the Bulldogs vs. Blues trap shooting contest that pitted the Baldwin school district trap shooting club against local first responders.

Baldwin Junior High School eighth-grader Lucas Hafer wasn’t intimidated shooting next to Baldwin City Fire Chief Terry Baker on Saturday at the Cedar Hill Gun Club.

“I shot a 16 and 17. That’s decent,” he said, before further qualifying with an “-ish.”

The competition had students in the Baldwin City school district trap shooting club squaring off against a team of Baldwin City and other area first responders. In the contest, two teammates from each team competed in two rounds with an equal number of competitors from the other team. Each round required a shooter to take five shots from five different positions on the firing line. Competitors were scored by how many clay targets they hit. A perfect score for a round is 25.

Lucas said he had never fired a shotgun before he joined the team last year. He’s improved, despite having a broken arm last spring. He still pulls the trigger with the middle finger he was forced to use when he learned to shoot with his arm in a cast, he said.

“I’m getting better and more consistent,” he said. “I am going to get a 25.”

The boy’s father, Kevin Hafer, said he was pleased to see his son take an interest in the sport. He was putting in extra practice time at the gun club to become a better shot, he said.

Lucas is one of 38 members of the school district’s team of middle and high school students. Coach Ryan Reynolds said the club, founded in the spring of 2016, competes in the Kansas State High School Clay Target League in the fall and spring.

Saturday’s Bulldogs vs. Blues competition didn’t have the team go up against another school but against police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel from Baldwin City and other nearby departments, he said.

As he awaited his turn on the firing line, Baldwin City Police Chief Greg Neis said it was the second year for the event after Baldwin City police officer Kim Springer first recruited a team of first responders for a contest last year, he said.

He would take a turn, but didn’t expect to help the cause of the Blues, Neis said.

“I’m probably going to have to hide my head in a paper bag,” he said. “I haven’t gone hunting in three or four years. The last time I went pheasant hunting, I walked about 3 miles and got off one shot.”

Although he didn’t have the exact score when the firing stopped, the students defeated the first responders by more than 100 targets, Reynolds said. But he said the day wasn’t about winners and losers.

“Today was about supporting our law enforcement and having the kids and police getting to know each other and spending time in a positive environment,” he said.