Andy Gjerswold is entering his third season as the head coach of the Minnesota Crookston trap shooting team.
In the inaugural season of the Minnesota Crookston trap program, Gjerswold led the team to a second place finish in the USA College Clay Target League 1-A Conference 2. Gjerswold coached Josiah Bullivant to a Top 10 finish in the conference. In addition, he aid44ed Corey Mathies, and Steven Thompson to a Top 20 finish in the conference, The Golden Eagles had their best shoot of the season with a 449.5 overall in week four of the season.
Gjerswold, a native of Crookston, Minn., had previously been instrumental in the trap program at Crookston High School, both as a student-athlete, and assistant coach.
Gjerswold helped his father Darren start the trap team at Crookston High School during his sophomore year in 2012-13. During his high school trap career, he shot a varsity average score of (19+ of 25 targets) all three years. He served as team captain for two years, and placed 16th of 98 competitors in the varsity shoot. Gjerswold hit 86 of 100 targets. Since graduating from Crookston High School in 2015, Gjerswold has served as a volunteer assistant coach for the Pirates. His primary focus as an assistant coach was coaching shooters. Through his involvement at Crookston High School, he has learned proper safety etiquette and has helped the Pirates put up a perfect safety record with zero accidents. In total, Gjerswold has 10 years of trap and sporting clays experience and has a full understanding of range safety, and his Minnesota Firearm Safety certificate. His experience as a prep competitor, and assistant coach, has also helped him develop a great relationship with the Crookston Gun Club, where the Minnesota Crookston trap team will compete. He also has a great relationship and knowledge of Minnesota Crookston, having attended the university from 2015-18.
During Gjerswold's time with the Crookston High School trap team, the Pirates have seen substantial growth in the number of competitors as high school trap has taken off in the state of Minnesota. Since the founding of the Minnesota High School Clay Target League in 2007, the sport has gone from 30 competitors on three teams, to 26,246 participants on 804 teams for the 2017-18 season. That is an increase of 26,216 participants in 11 years, which is an astounding increase.
Gjerswold is also employed as an aerial applicator of crop protection products and fertilizer at AgriMAX LLC out of Fisher, Minn., and is a farm hand for Perry Farms, Inc., in Crookston, Minn. He earned his Bachelor of Science in aviation with an emphasis in agriculture from Minnesota Crookston in 2018. He also has his commercial instrumental pilot license, and commercial pesticide applicator license in Minnesota and North Dakota.
The club will compete in the USA College Clay Target league beginning in the fall of 2021. The Golden Eagle trap shooting club will be treated the same as Minnesota Crookston's 13 other intercollegiate athletic teams with academic standards that must be met to compete.
