At his first state shooting competition in 2019, Teagan Herold set a goal for himself to compete at the 4-H Shooting Sports National Championships four years in a row. 

Last week, Herold officially made that dream come true when he traveled to Grand Island, Nebraska, for his fourth and final national competition — the 18-year-old will age-out of 4-H this fall. 

Herold started out in the Routt County 4-H program at age 8. He took livestock his first year, but drove past the shooting range with his dad and briefly saw other 4-H participants shooting. He realized in that moment, shooting sports were for him. 

“I got my first bow that year and got into shooting when I was 9,” Herold explained. “I added other disciplines over the next three years — small bore rifle, small bore pistol and air rifle.” 

By 2021, Herold qualified for the 2022 national event in archery. He had a four year run of excellence, competing in small bore pistol in 2023, air rifle in 2024 and finally small bore rifle last week. 

Over 740 4-H athletes competed at nationals from across the country. Each discipline allows a maximum of four athletes per discipline. Joining Herold in Colorado’s small bore rifle discipline were two others from Routt County — his sister, Tirzah, and Mia Cranwell — Shane Elworthy of Durango took the fourth spot. 

Each year, Colorado’s top qualifier per discipline gets to select the coach of the team. Herold had that honor in his first three years with Cranwell taking that opportunity this year. 

“There are other counties which are not as lucky to have the coaches Routt County has had for years,” said Herold, recognizing Rick Kirby, Jason Cranwell and Dave de la Mater as just some of the coaches who have impacted his shooting career in a big way.

Tuesday, June 24, was the start of the small bore rifle competition. It began with silhouettes, tasking athletes with shooting steel targets from 40 to 100 yards out. Herold took 8th, Tirzah not far behind in 22nd and Mia Cranwell in 30th. The team placed fifth. 

Herold took the crown in day two’s Civilian Marksmanship Program event, earning the nod in the first-place tie-break by shooting more X’s in the dead center of the targets than his opponent. Tirzah was 3rd, Mia took 10th. The Colorado team took gold in the event. 

Thursday marked the third and final competition day of nationals with the Free Position event. Herold equated it to a standard Olympic-level small bore rifle competition. Mia took the bronze medal in that event, Herold in 19th and Tirzah placing 27th for a team score of 4th overall. 

In Friday’s award ceremony, Mia was recognized for her second-place finish at nationals, Teagan took 4th. The Colorado team returned home as small bore rifle champions — the perfect conclusion to Herold’s 4-H shooting career. 

“It was a little bit bitter sweet but it has been a hard four years,” Herold said of his national championship success. “I didn’t realize how hard it was to qualify and how much work it took.” 

Herold just completed his first year of college enrolled at Mount Marty University in South Dakota. He plans to transfer to the University of North Dakota for online school this fall and take his archery to the professional level. 

His next step is to compete in the National Field Archery Association, shooting for money.