Full Results | Concordia Results (PDF)
WAUKEE, Iowa – The second competition of the 2025-26 season took Concordia University, Nebraska Shooting Sports to the Simpson College Invite held at New Pioneer Gun Club in Waukee, Iowa. When the dust settled after two days (Sept. 13-14) of action, the Bulldogs placed fourth high overall with 1,572 targets cracked towards the team scoring. Individually, seniors Devin Harris and Katie Welker emerged from the Simpson Invite with starring performances. The event featured four events: trap, sporting, super sporting and skeet.
Head Coach Dylan Owens’ team was represented by 17 competitors in Waukee, where six collegiate programs convened in a display of marksmanship. William Penn University (Iowa) came away with the team championship.
“We had a lot of moments where good things were happening,” Owens said. “We have to put it together for four rounds. Devin dropped two in the first box and then ran the back 75. He’s put in a lot of hard work and shot well over the whole weekend. All in all, it was a good weekend. We had a lot of good improvements from our freshmen and had people run boxes. We let a few more go than we probably should have in some events. We would like to be in the 490s in trap. Our sporting is what kind of let us down. We need more people in the low 90s and high 80s to carry over for HOA. On a positive note, Katie had another really good week and some of our freshmen put up good scores in certain areas.”
By discipline, Concordia turned in team placements of third in super sporting (196), tied for third in sporting (421) and fourth in both trap (483) and skeet (472). The Hamill, S.D., native Welker busted 89 targets in sporting and tied for the highest score among females in the event. She also finished fourth HOA among females in the field. Meanwhile, the Kansas City, Mo., native Harris tied for fourth overall in trap by cracking 98 of 100 targets.
Harris led the Bulldogs from an HOA perspective as he knocked out 324 of a possible 350 targets. Three teammates also shot HOA scores better than 300: Welker (320), Jaggar Luetje (302) and Cael Washburn (302). In trap, Harris was followed by Kaylee Hinton (97), Welker (96), Hannah Dean (96) and Luetje (96). Harris also topped Concordia in sporting (90) and skeet (98). Meanwhile, Welker, Washburn and Lane Schoff each achieved 40s in super sporting.
In taking first place as a team, William Penn hit 1,674 targets. Second and third place went to Simpson (1,605) and Wartburg College (1,577), respectively. The Bulldogs placed above Grand View University and Waldorf University. The best HOA individual athlete was William Penn’s Trenton Giese, who shot 333.
Owens is seeing progress with two events in the books. Concordia also placed fifth HOA at the Fort Hays State Intercollegiate Shoot (Sept. 6-7).
Said Owens, “We’re growing, which is what you want to see. When athletes come in shooting only one or two events and you have new surroundings and new practice schedules, all of those things will affect scores a little bit. I think once we settle in a little bit, we’ll see the scores go back up … We’re excited for the Midland Open. It’s probably the closest we get to nationals in terms of total competition. William Penn, Midland and Fort Hays State will be there. It’s really good competition.”
The Bulldogs will be close to home this coming weekend as they look forward to the Midland Warrior Open (Sept. 20-21). The event will take place at Lincoln Trap & Skeet Club in Lincoln, Neb., and will lead into the upcoming Prairie Circuit Conference Championships (Sept. 26-28).