Staying busy is a cure for sibling rivalries

This is just a presumption, but one has to wonder if brother and sister Connor and Kirsten Gilbert have traditional sibling disagreements?

The two Medical Lake High School students simply might not have time to fight.

Connor is a junior and along with the usual school activities, he earned an Eagle Scout rank at 15 and is currently undertaking an effort to make a trip to a 4-H National Shooting Sports competition later this summer in Grand Island, Neb.

It will cost him approximately $3,000 to make the trek from June 24–30 and any help to defray some of that would be appreciated.

He qualified for the spot with his finish at state competition last year, and will vie for a title in the sport's three segments, trap, skeet and sporting clays.

In trap shooting there is one "trap house" with five stations where the competitor rotates through, Conner explained.

For skeet, there is a trap house that is a little higher with targets shot in a semicircle. "Pretty much it's just different angles you shoot at," he said.

Sporting clays are probably the most realistic, in terms of hunting skills. A competitor goes out on the course where there are different trap houses.

Walking by a station the target can fly up practically anywhere, Conner said. "It could be over your head, it can pop up, there are ones that roll on the ground so you never know." Plus, the layout can change right before a competition

"I've been doing it for about four or five years now," starting in eighth grade, Conner said. This year he helped organize a trap shooting team at the high school.

Medical Lake is one of many schools that are now involved in the sport.

"Freeman has a huge trap shooting team," mom, Wendy Gilbert offered. They were state champs two years ago, and Colville, a fellow Northeast A League athletic competitor, is the 2018 champ.

While guns and schools continue to be an oil and water mixture for obvious reasons, trap shooters must have all their I's dotted and T's crossed with proper education and certificates.

That training emphasizes things like not bringing firearms to school and on trips to competition, never are the guns and competitors in the same vehicle.

Kirsten Gilbert, a freshman at MLHS, joins her brother in the pursuit of shooting sports, thanks in part to their father, Nathan. "They started shooting with their dad, it's something he likes to do," Wendy Gilbert said.

But Kirsten's real focus is raising animals as a member of West Plains Rangers 4-H club.

Also serving as ASB treasurer of the freshman class, Kirsten Gilbert currently sports a 3.95 GPA and joined 4-H in fifth grade when she began showing bunny rabbits. Once she saw other kids in the group showing animals, Gilbert said that was for her.

"I want to do that," she said, and in sixth grade Gilbert jumped up a number of weight classes to show goats. Her decision was due, in part, to an aunt who raises dairy goats.

And then it was on to lambs.

The dedication to this pastime is pretty intense and requires working no less than two hours a day, five days a week training Ben and Jerry at the Jensen Youth Ranch.

Purchased for $150 each, Kirsten spent 2 1/2 months getting them ready for the recently completed Spokane Junior Livestock Show. Ben initially weighed in at 86 pounds and 166 at the time of the sale. Jerry started at 65 and sold at 132 at a going price of $2.75 per pound.

While she does not yet know exactly what will be made money-wise from the effort, Kirsten said regardless of the eventual bottom line it's worth doing. The exercise taught her, among other things, responsibility and problem solving

While the journey for one of the animals would eventually land it on some lamb lovers dinner table, the other would have an extended life after being sold to a breeder, Wendy Gilbert explained.

It can be difficult to part ways with these animals, but not all the time. "Some years are harder than others," Wendy Gilbert said.

"It depends on the animal's personality," Kirsten added. Jerry was stubborn while Ben was sweet and would suck on her fingers. "Ben was definitely my favorite lamb so far," Kirsten said.

Want to help?

Visit Connor Gilbert's Gofundme.com page to assist him in his goal to compete at Grand Island.

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.