At the 2025 NSCA National Championship in San Antonio, Team Winchester and White Flyer shooter Desirae Edmunds stepped onto a different kind of stage. On October 23, inside the Hilton Hill Country resort, the Anchorage native was inducted into the National Sporting Clays Association Hall of Fame—a recognition reserved for the rare competitors who don’t just win titles, but reshape the sport around them.
Edmunds grew up far from the clay ranges that would one day define her life. She first picked up a shotgun at 14 through an Anchorage Fish & Game program, joining a weekly Five-Stand league while she worked on her fundamentals. It didn’t take long for the hook to set. Over the years, she climbed through the ranks with a mix of raw talent and relentless work, eventually collecting national championships, world titles, All-American selections and a reputation for being one of the most formidable competitors in the sport.
She made history as the only woman to win the NSCA Championship Tour Ladies title six years straight—a streak that still hangs in the air like a hard-hit target refusing to fall. But the stat line only tells part of the story. Her leadership and mentorship within the sport are often mentioned in the same breath as her podium finishes.
“Desi’s induction to the NSCA Hall of Fame is more than a reflection of her incredible talent and achievement. It is about the incredible impact she has made in sporting clays and on those around her,” said Brett Flaugher, President of Winchester Ammunition. “Desi defines what dedication and excellence looks like both on and off the shooting range. Through her talent, leadership and commitment, Desi has inspired a new generation of sport shooters, particularly women and youth, to find their place in this sport.”
Her résumé reads like a running tally of what other shooters hope to accomplish: nine appearances on the Ladies’ All-American team, five stints as captain, 15 selections to Team USA Ladies’ squads and victories across the sport’s biggest stages, from the NSCA Championship Tour to FITASC competitions and the World Sporting Championships. A Team Beretta athlete, she competes with a Beretta A400 XCel Sporting, a semi-automatic shotgun that’s been with her through many of those marquee wins and sets her apart from the pack.
The moment she learned she’d be inducted wasn’t one she saw coming. “It was a complete surprise when I first heard I was being inducted into the National Sporting Clays Association Hall of Fame,” Edmunds said. “I am truly humbled to be receiving this prestigious honor. This is something that most shooters dream of. It seems like a lifetime ago I pulled the trigger at my first clay and at the same time my journey is flying by at the speed of light. I am so grateful to have amazing teammates and sponsors that have made this dream a possibility. I fall in love with this sport more and more every tournament I attend, every clay target I shoot and every person I meet. Although this will be one of the highest achievements of my shooting career, I am excited for this journey to continue.”
She now joins fellow Team Winchester standouts Zach Kienbaum and Anthony I. Matarese, Jr., in the NSCA Hall of Fame, a trio that reflects a significant chapter in modern American sporting clays clay shooting.
The NSCA Hall of Fame describes itself simply: “Established to recognize the most influential figures in sporting clays, the NSCA Hall of Fame honors shooters, instructors and ambassadors who have elevated competitive clay-target shooting through exceptional performance and dedication.” Edmunds fits that profile easily. Her induction is not just a tribute to her decades of work, but also a nod to the people she has guided along the way—especially the young and aspiring shooters who see in her a roadmap for what the sport can offer.
With the honor now etched into the record books, Edmunds stands at a moment most athletes might see as a capstone. But nothing in her voice suggests that. If anything, this feels like another checkpoint in a career defined by momentum, the same kind that has carried her from those early days in Alaska to the top of the sporting clays leaderboard.
Her clay-busting journey continues, and if history is any indication, she’s far from finished rewriting the story of sporting clays.
Learn more about Winchester Ammunition and the NSCA Hall of Fame.
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