News

By Alex Freeman, MCC Communications Specialist

Carson City-Crystal seniors Liam Jensen and Hunter Doolittle have been shooting for a long time, in part due to the influence of their family. 

Jensen had an influence from his father, Mark, who founded the CC-C clay target varsity program in 2016. It was around this time that Jensen garnered an interest in the sport and started shooting at targets. 

“I was probably nine years old when I was standing on top of the trap house shooting my first round,” Jensen said. “I’ve just loved it ever since.” 

Jensen joined the CC-C clay target team in fifth grade, just a year before his teammate, Hunter Doolittle, came on board. 

Doolittle was influenced by his grandfather, Jim Doolittle, a prolific shooter throughout his career and also a volunteer coach on the CC-C clay target team. Doolittle took after his grandfather rather quickly, winning an individual trap shooting state championship in seventh grade. 

The connection the team had with Jim Doolittle proved to be a prosperous one, as he is a longtime shooting companion and friend of MCC interim clay target head coach Chris Henry. Looking for prospects for the 2025-2026 season, Henry inquired with Jim about shooters on the CC-C team who could make it at the next level and ultimately pointed him in the direction of Jensen and his grandson, Hunter. 

“He knows what it takes to compete at a high level,” Henry said of Jim Doolittle. 

Jim’s influence when mentioning it to Liam and Hunter was important and helped push them in the direction of considering joining the MCC clay target team. 

“He brought it up to me because he knows coach Henry,” Jensen said. “I had never really thought about it, obviously I had high expectations for myself in my high school career, just because of how I was raised, but I didn’t expect to continue this in college.  

“At first, I wasn’t going to go to college,” Jensen added. “I was just planning on going into the trades. But once I got that offer, I was like, ‘Wow, I can go get my associate degree and I get to continue my shooting career.’ It was a no-brainer.” 

For Hunter Doolittle, not only was the appeal of continuing his shooting career there, but he was also influenced by MCC having a brand-new exercise science degree this fall. 

“Originally, I was going to try and play college football,” Doolittle added. “But I didn’t get any interest from schools who had an exercise science program. So, my grandpa brought that up, the coach reached out to me and the rest is history.” 

Jensen and Doolittle sat next to each other in the Carson City-Crystal High School Media Center on March 18 as they both signed their letters of intent to become members of the Centurions clay target team. These were Henry’s first recruits who signed with the team and both Jensen and Doolittle appreciated his eagerness and demeanor throughout the recruiting process. 

“He showed a lot of interest and he shows that he is trying to help us be successful,” Jensen said. “I have a lot of faith that he’ll bring us to some strong finishes. I’m very appreciative that my hard work and all the interest I’ve shown has allowed me to get an offer like this. Hopefully, it becomes something big.” 

“He was a pretty cool guy,” Doolittle added. “He showed us around campus and just talked; the majority of the time, we didn’t even talk about trap shooting, just about things going on in life. I liked that he can be more than just a coach.” 

“They’re both great kids with good, positive attitudes,” Henry said. “I have no doubt they will be great additions to our team.” 

While Doolittle will plan to major in exercise science, Jensen plans to major in welding.