RUSSELL — The Barton Community College Foundation will hold its fifth annual Sporting Clay Shoot Fundraiser from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, April 15, at LaSada Sporting Clays and Hunting Service, 3721 183rd St., Russell. The last shoot begins at 3 p.m.
This clay shoot is the largest sporting clay shoot in the state of Kansas, and the money raised will be used for mini-grants for BCC faculty members to purchase items for their classrooms that will enhance the student learning experience, Foundation Director Darnell Holopirek said.
The entry fee of $60 per person includes lunch prepared by LaSada, a round of 100 sporting clays, prizes for the overall winners and flight winners and chance drawings for gifts. The fee does not include shells, but those can be purchased at LaSada. Non-shooters can purchase a $10 ticket for lunch. Those who preregister by April 1 will receive a free, sport pocket knife that can clip onto a pocket or a belt, but registrations will still be taken up to the day of the shoot.  Shooters can participate as individuals or as three-person teams in a 100-target Lewis Class style tournament.
“This is just a really unique event, and it’s outdoors so it just creates a whole new atmosphere that is a lot of fun for any person who wants to come out,” Holopirek said.
The event drew 149 shooters last year and raised nearly $10,000 that helped pay for items such as temporal scan thermometers for the nursing department, spectrometers and cuvettes for the chemistry department and new easels for the art department.
Owner of LaSada Scott Young said shooting sporting clays offer an exciting experience for any shooter.
“We like to describe it as a round of golf with a gun because each shooting station is different and presents unique challenges,” Young said.  “We can change the size, location, speed and angle of each target, and we even have  rabbit targets that roll and hop along the ground.”
LaSada has been in business for 14 years and sits on 480 acres of wilderness with approximately 100 acres devoted to shooting arenas that are accessible by asphalt pathway. “Some areas are in the tree-line whereas some you’re out in a more open setting so it gives the shooters a variety of environments to shoot in, and shooters or spectators don’t have to walk in the mud if they don’t want to,” he said.
Members of Pratt Community College’s Shooting Team will officiate the event.