Full Results | Concordia Results (PDF)
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. – For the second-straight weekend, Concordia University, Nebraska Shooting Sports ventured to Heartland Public Shooting Park in Grand Island, Neb., for competition. At the Hastings Bronco Invitational held on Oct. 4-5, the Bulldogs came away with a fourth-place high overall team finish in the largest event of the fall in terms of number of teams and athletes. The field included 17 teams and 185 shooters. The competitors took aim in the disciplines of skeet, sporting, super sporting and trap. The conditions were especially blustery on Saturday.
Head Coach Dylan Owens’ squad cracked 1,706 targets towards the team scoring, placing behind only William Penn University (1,817), Midland University (1,786) and Iowa Western Community College (1,740). Individually, senior Katie Welker continued an impressive fall by running 100 straight in trap.
“They worked really, really hard to keep going in spite of the conditions,” Owens said. “It paid off. Starting off with sporting, the course was set pretty difficult. On the first day, there were up to 40-mile-per-hour wind gusts. The next day it was a lot lighter wind. The course shot softer on Sunday. You can see that in the scores. Conditions obviously played a big factor. We had some people really step up in that wind. Keeping five scores in the 90s (in skeet) on a day like that is a huge deal. I’m really proud of the team for that. There were some targets we let slip away, but overall, I’m happy with the scores that we had.”
A native of Hamill, S.D., Welker emerged as the lone female to shoot 100 in trap at the Hastings Invite. From an HOA standpoint, it was a tight race between Welker and Devin Harris for the top score among Bulldogs. Harris wound up with a total of 351/400 with Welker on his heels at 350. Of the 18 Concordia athletes in the field, eight shot 300 or better HOA while battling the elements. The HOA total for Harris put him at No. 6 among all athletes in the field at the Hastings Invite.
By discipline, the Bulldogs shot team totals of 481 in trap, 466 in skeet, 374 in sporting and 385 in super. Individual leaders by event were Welker in trap (100), Harris and Welker in skeet (96) and Harris in sporting (81) and super (80). The team trap score improved by 10 targets as compared to a week earlier at the same location. Following Welker, the team’s top five in trap at the Hastings Invite featured freshman Delayna Rife (97), senior Kaylee Hinton (97), Harris (94) and sophomore Clayton Gellerman (93). In skeet, Welker shot a 96, third best among women.
Outside of Harris and Welker, other Bulldogs to shoot at least 300 HOA were Gellerman (333), Hinton (328), Jerry Kaibel (316), Cael Washburn (308), Colby Gaines (307) and Jaggar Luetje (303). Owens went on to commend the freshman Kaibel (Eldon, Mo.), who shot a solid 78 in super with limited experience in the event.
Said Owens, “My biggest takeaway is that we can get things accomplished even in tough conditions. I’m really happy to see that. In trap, we shot better than we did last weekend. To have a 10-target growth in a week is really good. The overall difficulty of the course was stronger than last week. Katie ran her 100, which is a really big deal. She made it look easy. Kaylee and Delayna both shooting 97 in trap was huge. The goal is to be in the 490s in trap and skeet.”
The Bulldogs will have this weekend off from competition. However, Concordia Shooting Sports will lend its support to the Kids & Clays Sporting Clays Tournament at Oak Creek Sporting Club in Brainard, Neb., this Friday and Saturday. The event raises money for the Ronald McDonald House Charites in Omaha. The event has a webpage that can be found HERE. The final event of the fall will be the SECC-Beatrice Bobcat Invitational on Oct. 25-26.