When Leslie Gonia steps on the line, her gun perched on her right shoulder, nothing else matters but 25 clay pigeons.
In that moment, she knows the lion’s share of the clay birds will fall, paralyzed to the dirt in pieces. What started as an opportunity to try something new has become a passion for Gonia, a 16-year-old Adna High School student who just finished her sophomore year.
She has quickly proved that she is one of the top trap shooters in the state, competing for both the Adna team and the Washington State High School Rodeo Association. Gonia recently competed at the state finals and put together a third-place performance, including winning a round. As a result, she punched her ticket to the Silver State International Rodeo in Winnemucca, Nevada, held from June 30 to July 7.
“It was exciting to know that maybe I can shoot with the big dogs. These kids are the best in the state,” Gonia said of her state finals performance. “It’s cool to know that I’m up there with them and I can shoot at their level.”
This will be Gonia’s second straight summer trip to Winnemucca but first as a trap shooter. She qualified as a breakaway roper last year, but she didn’t compete in that event this year as she acquired a new roping horse that wasn’t ready for the season. Gonia won a state championship in breakaway roping last year and competed at her first pro rodeo in Elma on March 21, living a childhood dream after attending the rodeo as a child.
The unintentional break from breakaway roping gave her the chance to hone in on trap shooting. Last year, Gonia went from shooting no better than 15 out of 25 targets to knocking down 24 out of 25 on multiple occasions this year. On one of the premier prep trap shooting stages in the nation, Gonia has her eyes set on completing her first perfect game.
“In this last competition, I had hit 21 in a row and then I missed. I could have done it. I was almost there,” she said. “The more I get in a row, I feel like I should change something, and then I do change something and then I miss and I’m like, ‘OK, I should have stuck with what I did.’ Sometimes it’s out of control. Sometimes you have that one bird that kicks really hard to the right and you just can’t catch up.”
The rodeo world has provided an escape for Gonia through anxiety and grief. Her mom Lisa recalls Leslie wanting a horse “from the day she could talk,” and Leslie’s need for support escalated when her grandmother suffered a brain aneurysm and passed away when Leslie was 9 years old. Leslie’s grandfather passed away just six months later. She started taking riding lessons, and Lisa, a longtime healthcare worker, acquired a pony named Scoobi from a friend in the field. It became a purchase that was a far greater source of therapy than any counselling could ever provide.
“The grief it got her through is the best thing I ever did. I had to sit back and see how it saved her,” Lisa said. “She has a gaming horse and a roping horse, and she’s trained the gaming horse from the ground up. She works hard to get to do this stuff. I just have to trust her.”
Leslie said being with Scoobi or her other horses Reba and Dolli brings her solitude and peace, feelings that trap shooting has started to bring, as well.
“When I’m with Scoobi or any of them, everything else doesn’t really matter. It’s just quiet, and it’s a good quiet. It’s not like I wish something would happen right now,” Leslie said. “I don’t want anything to happen. I just want to be with this horse. Sometimes you kind of relate to him.”
It took some time for Leslie Gonia to feel like breakaway roping, and even just riding a horse, was second nature. The same goes for trap shooting, as Gonia said she started to take the sport seriously this spring.
But the hours of practice and lessons learned from competitions big and small have prepared her for stages like Winnemucca. Perfection is nearly impossible to achieve in the vast majority of sports, but Gonia has that target within her sight.
“I’m not worried. With trap shooting, it’s just me and the gun. I know what that gun is going to do, and I have full control of it. I can’t blame anybody else but myself when I miss,” she said. “When I’m on the line, it’s just me. I just kind of zone out and all I really see is the clay. I don’t really pay attention to who’s next to me or what they’re doing. When I’m on the line and I’m in my spot, it’s just me.”
