Bemidji High School wins Minnesota clay target state title

Bemidji High School won the Minnesota State High School League clay target title Friday at the Minneapolis Gun Club in Prior Lake, finishing ahead of a field that included 40 qualifying teams and 129 individual competitors. Bemidji advanced from Section 9 with a team score of 489 and turned that entry into a state championship for Bemidji Area Schools.

The result carries extra weight in Beltrami County because clay target has become more than a one-roster spring activity at Bemidji High School. The league lists the Bemidji program as a 1A team in Region 8AA, and it places clay target alongside other school activities for safety-certified students in grades six through 12. That structure gives Bemidji a pipeline that starts before high school and helps explain why the school could arrive at state with enough depth to contend for a title.

The state tournament itself has settled into a familiar home. Friday’s meet marked the 12th time the championships were held at the Minneapolis Gun Club since the inaugural event in 2014, and the Minnesota State High School League again staged it with the Minnesota Clay Target League. For Bemidji, the championship came out of a competition that rewards consistent team performance over a full season, with Section 9 serving as the local path to the state stage.

The tournament also carried a new wrinkle in 2026. In the individual competition, Proctor sophomore Laine Graves won a first-ever shoot-off after three shooters posted perfect 100s, the first time the league used that rule to break a tie. That finish underscored how tight the field was at the top and how polished the standard had become across the state.

For Bemidji, the title does not read like a routine school-sports milestone. It reflects a local program that has settled into the county’s athletic culture, with students entering through the league’s grades 6 through 12 structure, qualifying through Section 9, and bringing a state championship back to Bemidji.