It may not be the well-known club at North Idaho College, but recently at a clay target shooting competition in Spokane, the NIC Breaking Clays Club took home a big prize.

ON OCT. 11-13, at the Upper West Coast Conference Clay Target Championships, several NIC students took home first-place awards.

The NIC club earned $11,250 in prize money during the event held at the Double Barrel Ranch in Rockford, Wash., and the Spokane Gun Club. The money was to be used toward the club's endowment fund.

Larkin Henkel of Coeur d'Alene, the club's president, shot the overall high score in the female division.

Jon Thurman from Coeur d'Alene shot the overall high score in the male division.

Tony Palin of Corvallis, Mont., tallied the high score for the weekend. He won first place in trap, hitting 98 out of 100 targets.

Grant Thurman of Coeur d'Alene won the skeet in the male division.

Nick Higgs of Coeur d'Alene finished third in the skeet, male division.

Jacob Rothrock has been the club's adviser for nearly a year.

"The club started officially in the spring of this year," Rothrock said. "Larkin Henkel, our club president, started it as part of her Girl Scout Gold Award."

Several members of the club have been shooting since at least high school, if not younger.

"A lot of these kids are just naturals," Rothrock said. " It's a family tradition for some of them. They're all barely 21. Officially they practice on Sunday afternoons for about two hours at the Coeur d'Alene Skeet and Trap Club (in Hayden)," Rothrock said. "Unofficially, they shoot on their own during the week."

THE CLUB is literally shooting to compete in the state competition in Hayden, as part of the Scholastic Clay Target Program.

The club is also working on trying to earn grants totaling $10,000. The grants are part of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, and they're awarded to new clubs to help pay for ammunition, targets and travel expenses.

NIC is also hoping to travel to a regional Sporting Clay Target Program competition in Cody, Wyo., next year. While Rothrock said it's "farfetched," the club is also hoping to be able to travel to a national competition in Association of College Union International Collegiate Clay Target Championships, one of the biggest events in the clay target program, from March 25-30 at the National Shooting Complex in San Antonio, Texas.

Annual expenses - including ammunition, targets, team equipment, transportation and event registration, can total $11,460.

"Hopefully it'll be taken care of," Rothrock said of the grants.

Bruce Bourquin is a sports writer at The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2013, or via email at bbourquin@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @bourq25