FULL RESULTS | NCSSAA Central Region Qualifier
WAUKEE, Iowa – National qualifying spots were on the line over the weekend (Oct. 22-23) as the Concordia Shooting Sports team traveled 25 athletes to the NCSSAA Central Region Qualifier hosted by Simpson College. Sam Blevins and Tanner Muff emerged as the top overall competitors for the Bulldogs, who placed third high overall out of 12 teams at the event staged at New Pioneer Clay Target Center in Waukee, Iowa. Blevins shot a perfect 100/100 in skeet as one of the weekend highlights for the Bulldogs, who have now competed at five events this fall.
The regional qualifier marked the second outing this season that provided an opportunity for Head Coach Dylan Owens’ athletes to qualify for nationals. Qualifying events are sponsored by the National Collegiate Shooting Sports Athletic Association, a brand new organization.
“The idea of competing in a qualifier rattled some of our athletes at the beginning of the season, but they’ve really settled in,” Owens said. “They’ve just been grinding. It was a really exciting event because of how it resembled what nationals will look like. It will be just as high-level at nationals. Now that we’re settling into this new mode (under NCSSAA guidelines), our athletes are just killing it.”
Conditions were warm and blustery for the roughly 170 shooters that made their way to Waukee. In an event that featured trap, skeet and sporting clay targets, Blevins and Muff both turned in scores of 291 (out of 300). They were one target behind the region qualifier champion Breydon Paxson of Simpson. After the shoot off, Blevins, a La Grange, Ky., native, wound up taking third in men’s skeet. In addition, Muff placed second in men’s sporting clays (94) and third in trap (99), Claire Kee took second in women’s sporting clays (87) and Katelyn Welker placed third in women’s trap (98).
Following Blevins and Muff, Concordia’s top five overall competitors included Wayne Moore (274), Mason Ward (272) and Breyer Meeks (267). Five other Bulldogs also cracked at least 260 targets: Jack Nelson (265), Kee (263), Brennen Stones (263), Wyatt Hambly (260) and Angeline Wolfert (260). Concordia did some of its best work in trap (second out of the 12 teams) with a score of 487. That total came out of the individual performances of Muff (99), Blevins (98), Welker (98), Moore (96) and Ward (96). Concordia finished just two targets behind William Penn University (Iowa) (489) in trap.
The top two overall teams at the regional qualifier were William Penn (1,423) and Midland (1,402). The Bulldogs beat out nine opposing squads, including Wartburg University (1,351), Simpson (1,326) and Connors State College (1,317).
The regional qualifier was Concordia’s first competition since hosting its own invitational Oct. 1-2. Owens felt like the break came at a good time. Said Owens, “The break gave us a chance to take a breath and refocus. This week we’ll be training a little different. We know what the little things are that we have to work on. I saw the most competitive drive so far out of the team this weekend. As a super competitive person, that gets me excited. We were down 28 targets to William Penn, which is only a few targets here and there. You could see how close this event was between the top teams.”
Based on performances at the first two qualifying events, 14 Bulldogs are qualified for the NCSSAA National Championships in the spring:
· Ames Andelt
· Sam Blevins
· Jessie Ciezki
· Wyatt Hambly
· Claire Kee
· Breyer Meeks
· Wayne Moore
· Tanner Muff
· Jack Nelson
· Brennen Stones
· Buck Tietjen
· Emily Uitermarkt
· Mason Ward
· Angie Wolfert
As Owens noted, the last qualifying event (NCSSAA North Central Qualifier) will take place in Wichita, Kan., on Nov. 5-6. Owens went on to thank the parents of the athletes for their support and for supplying food for the team.
Select athletes will be in action this Thursday at the ACUI Upper Midwest Super Shoot in Grand Island, Neb. The fall portion of the 2022-23 schedule will then wrap up with the aforementioned NCSSAA North Central Qualifier.