Full Results | Concordia Results (PDF)
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. – Event No. 5 of the 2023-24 season for Concordia University Shooting Sports took the Bulldogs to Heartland Public Shooting Park in Grand Island, Neb., for the Hastings College Bronco Invitational the weekend of Oct. 7-8. With the help of senior Jack Nelson cracking all 100 targets in skeet, Concordia placed third high overall among 11 teams in the event. The Bulldogs' best results came in skeet, where they placed second.
Head Coach Dylan Owens’ squad turned in an HOA total of 1,340. The top two place finishers were Fort Hays State University (Kan.) (1,396) and host Hastings (1,348).
“Jack had a great day. It was wonderful to watch and be a part of,” Owens said. “He struggled a little early on last year with skeet. He came into this year knowing what he had to do – just relax. In terms of sporting clays, this was a state championship level course. We shoot something usually a little softer than that. We weren’t as prepared for it as we should have been. Trap at Heartland is always tough and the scores reflected it across the board. We ended up taking third HOA, which is not exactly where we want to be but not bad.”
Led by the Kimberly, Idaho, native Nelson, Concordia posted a 480 in skeet while placing behind only Fort Hays State in that particular discipline. Nelson was the only athlete in the entire field to shoot a perfect skeet score. Other Bulldogs who contributed to the team total were Sam Blevins (97), Claire Kee (95), Rayne Larrison (94), Ames Andelt (94) and Devin Harris (94). On the HOA male individual leaderboard, Nelson placed in a tie for fourth place with a 272. Nelson also shot 94 in trap and 78 in sporting clays.
In the other disciplines, Concordia placed fourth as a team in both trap (464) and sporting clays (396). Individual leaders were Nelson and Brennen Stones in trap (94 apiece) and Ames Andelt in sporting (82). The top five Bulldogs HOA, in addition to Nelson, included Blevins (266), Ames Andelt (262), Mason Ward (262) and Stones (259). Nine Concordia competitors recorded a score of at least 250 HOA. Kee shot a total of 256 and placed fourth HOA among female athletes at the Hastings Invite.
In five outings so far this season, the Bulldogs have placed third or better at four events: third at the Fort Hays State Fall Shoot, second at the Mid-Plains Community College Fall Flurry, third at the Prairie Circuit Conference Championships and third at the Hastings Invite. There are two events remaining on the fall portion of the 2023-24 slate.
The Bulldogs will have this weekend off from competition as they prepare to host the Concordia Bulldog Sporting Invitational on Oct. 21-22. The event will be staged at Oak Creek Sporting Club in Brainard, Neb., the home range of the Bulldogs. At last season's Concordia Invite, the Bulldogs placed fourth out of 11 teams. In lieu of competition this weekend, the program will host the Kids & Clays Sporting Clays Tournament Friday through Sunday in support of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Omaha.
Said Owens, “It’s nice that we have this week to go work the Kids & Clays event and reset going into our shoot next weekend. We’ll be building back up for Waco in November. We had a lot of scores that were below our averages this weekend, so we know we have room for improvement.”