Warriors Open Season at Tiger 450
HAYS, Kan. – Midland University opened its shooting sports season this past weekend at the Tiger 450 hosted by Fort Hays State University. The Warriors had a strong showing over the weekend, winning the high overall (HOA), doubles trap, doubles skeet, and sporting clays team titles, and were runners-up in two other events.
In addition to the team successes, Brayden Bliss won the individual skeet event and finished as the HOA individual. Ben Swanson led the Warriors in sporting clays.
SUPER SPORT
Midland placed second in the super sport event with a team total of 428 while Fort Hays State won the event with a 400. Brayden Bliss, who tied for third individually, led the way for the Warriors with a score of 88 while Andy Grell was one target behind at 87. Rounding out the team were Sarah Sjobert (85), Michael Martinez (85), and Cole Kennedy (83).
SPORTING CLAYS
The Warriors were the top team in sporting clays with a team score of 465, ten targets better than FHSU. Leading the way was Ben Swanson with a score of 96 to lead all shooters in the event. A host of Warriors shot 90 or better with Michael Martinez (93), Mason Andelin (92), Alex Voyles (92), and Chase Carrere (92) rounding out the sporting team.
DOUBLES TRAP
Individually in doubles trap, Devin Huguenot and Mason Andelin tied for second in doubles trap with rounds of 97. In the shoot-off, they dropped to 3rd and 4th individually. The duo paced Midland who won the event with a score of 480. Gil Palmer (96), Cole Kennedy (95), and Morgan Siebert (95) rounded out the squad.
TRAP
It was a neck-and-neck battle in the trap event with FHSU edging the Warriors by one target to secure the win, 497 to 496. Midland was led by Brayden Bliss who shot a perfect 100. He was relegated to fifth via the shoot-off of several others. Four of his teammates were one target from joining the 100-straight club as Devin Huguenot, Andy Grell, Grayson Stuart, and Alex Voyles all shot 99s.
SKEET
Midland rolled through the skeet event with 10 of the top 13 scores. Brayden Bliss and Amy Cawley split the individual title with 49s while Ben Swanson shot a 48. Shooting scores of 47, and making up the final team score were Audric Scheidel, Grayson Stuart, Alex Voyles, Dalton Blaha, Sarah Sjoberg, Josh Randall, and Chase Carrere.
HOA TEAM
For the HOA team title, Midland tallied a score of 2066 to beat out Fort Hays State who had a score of 2050. The scores were made up of each team's top five individual HOA scorers. That group for MU was Brayden Bliss (419), Andy Grell (413), Mason Andelin (412), Cole Kennedy (412), and Grayson Stuart (410).
"This was a big win for us right out of the gate. Being able to go to our divisional rival's home and beat them is a huge momentum swing," commented head coach Jake McThenia. "We had great weather all weekend. The wind played with the targets on doubles trap on Saturday afternoon and the super sporting presented some technical targets while sporting was very straightforward with target presentation. Overall, the team had a consistent performance across the board. No event threw us out of HOA. It also helps when 17/20 shooters all contributed to team scores in some way or another. I'm very proud of this group and the way they all worked together for one common goal. That's the mindset we have going into this season and they executed."
Midland will look to build off its success this upcoming weekend at the Simpson Invitational. The shoot gets going on Saturday, September 14 in Waukee, Iowa.