Alex and Lola sounds like a sitcom worth watching, and to be certain when siblings Alex and Lola Eaton get together there are plenty of smiles to go around.
But put shotguns on their shoulders and catapult a clay saucer at nearly 40 mph, and the smiles are reserved for hits. Frowns, and perhaps self-discussion, follow misses.
“She’s competitive all the time,” reflected Alex, one of the better trap shooters in the state, about his sister. “She’s always trying to beat me.”
It’s been quite a year for the Eatons, with Alex winning the coveted “Top Gun” title in the Youth Trap League run by the Cedar Rod and Gun Club. As members of the Glen Lake Clay Target team, Lola — just a sophomore — notched a perfect score of 50 straight hits.
That’s quite a feat, Alex admits.
“But I’ve had two, so that’s important. I have to be one up — I don’t have to be two up, was long as I win,” Alex said.
Cedar Rod and Gun Club president Rick Nelson, who organizes and is one of the coaches for the Youth Trap League and helps to coach the high school team, said those perfect 50 scores represent rarified ground for young gunners. To have one shooter score two and then have a sophomore score another are both amazing feats.
“Fifty straight is not common at all,” Nelson said.
The Glen Lake trap team, which finished second to Pelston in its nine-school conference , has hopes of finishing among the best teams in the state at the Michigan Trap Shooting State Tournament June 14-15 in Mason. More than 80 teams and 1,250 student athletes are expected to compete.
Beth Mikowski is the Laker coach. Lola admits to having a case of the nerves at points of her perfect round.
“I kind of felt when I hit my first bird, ‘Yes, this is a good one.’ Rick started to pull the birds really fast so Iwouldn’t think about it. I was shaking on No. 50. But I was shaking more on the first 25 because I had never hit all of the first round, either.”
Alex, who graduated Sunday, took a giant step forward in shotgunning during his junior season.
“Freshman year I was decent, then sophomore year was a low point. I started shooting in the low teens (out of 25 birds). Then I got everything together as a junior, shooting 25 straight consistently, and I got one 50, also,” he said.
Lola and Alex are competitive in the classroom as well. Both have 4.0 graded point averages.
Alex will head off to Michigan Technological University in the fall to study engineering. The Eatons praised the dedication of their coaches, whose lessons on how to succeed at trap shooting beyond the physical dynamics can be carried through life.
“What I learned is you really have to focus. It’s all about mental toughness. And there is a community here, everyone, from Rick to Jim Balesh to Herman (Radke), they love to see youth come in and enjoy the sport. They worked with me and my shooting, and taught me everything,” Alex said.
Lola credited Nelson with keeping her in the sport.
“He’s a great coach. When I started I was getting 10 out of 25. He said that was good, but it wasn’t. He kept encouraging me. That’s why I kept doing it; because he kept encouraging,” she said.
Youth Trap League coaches include Jess Reed, Bill Blade, Fritz Barratt and Mark Sierzputowski. Alex and Lola and the children of Kayla and Jake Eaton of Interlochen.
The Youth Trap League enjoyed a resurgence in 2025, with participant numbers increasing in all divisions.
“We had 48 kids this year, and they were a great bunch,” said Rick Nelson, a trap and skeet coach and president of the Cedar Rod and Gun Club.
On Sunday, participants in the league varying in age from 11 1/2- to 18-years-old gathered for a friendly end-of-season shoot, an awards ceremony, and to receive prizes. Maple City gunsmith C.J. Bachelder once again donated a new shotgun.
Finishing with the overall high score was Alex Eaton, who walked away with the coveted Top Gun trophy.
OTHER WINNERS WERE: Senior League - Gold Division, Austin O’Connor; Silver Division, Ethan Verchaeve.
Intermediate League - Gold Division, Kyler Barnes; Silver Division, Charlie Niess.
Junior League - Dylan Morgan, first place.
