Growing up on a farm in Eddyville, Iowa, Haley Dunn began shooting with her father in 1993 at the age of eight. In 1995 Dunn’s father, Larry opened Steelclay Shooting Sports in Eddyville and started coaching his daughter in the shotgun sports. There were many father-daughter hunting trips when Dunn turned 10 and she harvested her first animal a short time later. Developing a love of the outdoors, Dunn spent the next two years, hunting and clay target shooting with her father. When Dunn turned 12, her father began entering her in local shooting sports competition. At 14, Dunn entered the Iowa State Sporting clays Championship and claimed the Gold Medal, the youngest lady champion in the event’s history. She went on to claim the Iowa state championship three more times and two times as the Missouri state Ladies Sporting Clays Champion.
In 2000, when Dunn turned 15, the United States Olympic Team Coach Lloyd Woodhouse took notice of her and Dunn was invited to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO to compete in the Junior Olympic Championships in Olympic Skeet. Dunn won the Silver Medal and a spot on the USA Junior Olympic Team. Nine months later at the 2001 World Championships in Cairo, Egypt Dunn brought home the Gold Medal in the Junior Category. She went on to win another Gold Medal at the Junior World Championships in Suhl, Germany. Later on that year, at the USA National Championships, Dunn took the Gold Medal in the Junior Division and with an impressive fourth place finish in the Women’s Open Division.
In 2002, Dunn graduated from Eddyville Blakesburg High School, a year early than her classmates with a 3.8 GPA. An avid sportswoman, she played softball, track, cross country, was on the drill team, color guard and played the alto saxophone in the marching and concert band. She was also a member of the student council.
Dunn attended Indian Hills Community College receiving her Associates of Arts Degree with a Business emphasis. Enrolling in the University of Missouri-Columbia, she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Business Management graduating in December 2007 with 3.4 GPA. Active with the Mizzou Shooting Team, Dunn attended the ACUI Intercollegiate Clay Target National Championships winning the Gold Medal and HOA Ladies Champion title.
While attending high school and college, Dunn actively competed internationally travelling to over twenty different countries representing the United States, competing in Olympic skeet and winning more than 25 Gold Medals and other awards. An alternate on the 2004 and 2008 U.S. Olympic teams, Dunn is continuing her competitive career working towards the 2012 games in London, UK.
In her “free time”, Dunn works with organizations such as Women on Target and Women in the Outdoors introducing women to the outdoors and the shooting sports. She is also a representative for the Scholastic Clay Target Program encouraging youngsters to become involved in the outdoors. A member of Bass Pro’s Generation X Team, Dunn also appears in a variety of television shows and participates in events around the country making personal appearances.
She currently lives and trains in Muenster, TX.
