Luke Dangel attended the 4-H National Shooting Sports competition on June 23rd through June 28th in Grand Island, NE at the Heartland Public Shooting Park. Luke is the son of Mike and Tina Dangel and is a junior at Andes Central. Luke first joined 4-H when he was five years old as a Cloverbud. He became involved in 4-H as his family was already very involved. Luke has been a part of the shooting sports events for the past eight years. He participates in the air pistol, air rifle, .22 pistol, .22 rifle and archery. Luke originally started participating in shooting sports in the BB gun event.

In order to qualify for the National competition, a contestant must compete at the 4-H State Shoot. For air pistol, they must shoot silhouettes, both slow and rapid fire. A contestant can only go to Nationals once in an event. Luke also qualified in the .22 pistol, but chose to compete at Nationals in the air pistol event. In total, there were 708 youth representing 40 states participating in the National Championships this year. There were 75 individuals participating in the air pistol event and 18 teams. The most challenging part of competing for Luke was being nervous before his events and participating in such a big event with so many participants.

In the air pistol competition, contestants shoot rapid fire, slow fire, and silhouettes. Most pistol teams have four members, but the South Dakota State air pistol team only had three members this year. In the slow fire competition, Luke placed 10th. In the rapid-fire competition, he placed 11th and ended up with a 13th overall in the event. The South Dakota state team placed 3rd in rapid fire; 3rd in slow fire; 6th in silhouettes and 2nd place overall. As a state, South Dakota tied for 2nd place as a team at Nationals with Louisiana taking home another National Sweepstakes win.

Luke really enjoyed the competition and the event being held in Grand Island. The last night of Nationals, the water park was opened just for all the shooting sports participants to have fun and enjoy themselves after a long few days of competing.

Being a part of the 4-H shooting sports not only improves shooting skills but builds life skills including self-control, self-regulation and self-discipline. If during a competition, one has a bad shot, he or she needs to be able to shake it off and regroup mentally in order to keep going. It teaches a very important life skill of needing to learn to overcome things in the past that cannot be changed and aim to do their best.

For Luke, shooting sports is a family affair. Both of his parents are coaches. Luke’s brother, Bradly Dangel, also competed in Nationals in both the .22 pistol and air pistol. Bradly is now also a coach. In addition to shooting sports, Luke also shows goats, sheep, rabbits, cats, poultry, and static exhibits. For Luke though, the shooting sports are his favorite events. Luke is also a Junior 4-H Leader. He will definitely be competing next year in the shooting sports events. He may even try the recurve archery event next year.

Congratulations Luke on a job well done at Nationals. You not only represented Charles-Mix County well, but the entire state of South Dakota.