Shooting Sports have started the season with a dual meet victory and a second-place finish at their first invitational, after an abrupt end to the Spring 2020 season.

In the first dual of the season, on Sept. 16, the Storm was able to come out on top with a score of 509-503 over the Grand View Vikings.

To start the meet, each team member shot two rounds of 25 on trap, to bring in a score of 463-458 over the Vikings.

On top for the Storm was sophomore Kylie Tierney, with a score of 49 out of 50. Following was a pair of freshman shooters, Kayla Lipper and Robert Rauhut with a 48, and with a score of 47 was junior Kyle Meyers.

“It felt really good [to start the season strong], especially since we started practicing, and I’ve been shooting really well,” Tierney said. “It’s really good to see that progress is being made, especially since we had our season cut short last semester. And everything is all coming together. It’s very nice.”

For the second round of scores, the top ten from each team would shoot in a one stand trap for two rounds. After the first round, the Storm led 490-477 and was able to hold off the Vikings through the second round.

Tierney would score the store four points during the second scoring rounds on one stand trap to help the Storm secure the win.

“The first round I tried to go big or go home, ended up getting three points,” Tierney said. “Then the next round, I knew we needed some points. So, I took the easy target and then would go for the Harder one.”

Senior Molly Sheehan would help bring the Storm a win by tallying 14 points during this round, followed by freshman Zach Hanson with seven points, and sophomore Victoria Barksdale with five points for the Storm.

Following the dual, the Storm was able to finish strong with second at the Iowa Invitational, Sept. 19, with a team score of 655, finishing one point behind Grand View. While Coe and Wartburg would trail the Storm.

The Storm competed in rounds shooting rounds of 50 trap, 50 skeet, and 50 sporting clays events.

The Storm performed well with top individuals in each category. Sheehan would come out on top in Skeet with a score of 49, and Rauhut took third with a 48. Meyers finished second in trap scoring a 49, while Grand View’s Sarah Jordan would finish ahead with a perfect score.

Ending with a four-way tie in sporting clays for second with a 39. After a shootout, junior Matt Wilkinson would place third and Hanson and Rauhut would tie for fourth.

Overall scores would land Hanson and Wilkinson tied for third each ending the day with a score of 133.

Also in the Storms top five scorers were Meyers and Rauhut, both with an overall of 132. To round out the team score was sophomore Wyatt Heisterkamp with a 125 overall.

The Storm is happy to be together again after the end of their season was so abrupt in the Spring.

“It felt awesome [to be competing with the team] because we haven’t for five months,” Tierney said. “I really missed them. They are more like a family to me than a team, and it’s been really difficult because we haven’t been able to hang out other than like practice. But it’s still nice to be able to see them.”

The Simpson shooting sports team will be back in action Sept. 26, at the Grand View Invitational held at the Indianola Ikes, located next to the main entrance into Lake Ahquabi State Park.