Outdoorsman Weather

Blustery conditions don’t stop Charles City/Nashua trapshooting home opener

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

NASHUA — While most prep sports events scheduled for Tuesday were cancelled like a planned Donald Trump rally through Chicago, the Charles City/Nashua trapshooting team’s home opening meet at Nashua Fish and Game Club went on as according to schedule.

Befitting the grit of a typical outdoorsman — or outdoorswoman — trapshooting events are held despite rain, sleet, snow, 30 to 40 mile-an-hour winds … lightning is about the only act of nature that halts the fire.

Like the New Hampton Invitational the Saturday before, this meet was also plagued with blustery conditions. And though Saturday’s invite had snow in the morning, Tuesday’s meet had sleet in the afternoon.

Charles City’s No. 1 squad had to shoot through much of the worst of it. Nonetheless, they improved three shots from Charles City’s No. 1 squad’s score from Saturday by hitting 198 out of 250 targets.

Aaron Wright led the way with a score of 43 out of 50. Izzy Worrall and Luke Hillegas each shot 40. Nick Wegner had a 39 score and Jacob Greenzweig hit 36 of his targets.

Through the halfway point of the meet, Charles City’s score was good enough for first place before Osage’s No. 5 squad scored a 200.

Saint Ansgar was the other school participating. And when its top squad loaded up near the end of the meet, it left little doubt who the top shots were.

Led by Alex Maiers and Taylor Krahenbuhl, the Saints hit 222 targets.

Maiers hit 48 out of 50 targets, and had a string of more than 30 straight interrupted when the trap launcher ran out of targets when it was his turn to shoot.

“I didn’t let it bother me,” Maiers said of the two-minute delay.

When the launcher was reloaded, Maiers hit the subsequent target. His second miss came several targets later.

“I felt good out there,” said Maiers, who was one of the few competitors who shot in short sleeves. “We did great as a team.”

Fellow senior Krahenbuhl had the next best score of the meet with a 47. Maiers and Krahenbuhl have been among the Saints best shooters since they were freshmen.

“You always aim for perfection,” said Maiers, who shot 99 out of 100 clays during a round at last year’s Scholastic Target Clay Program tournament, and eventually took third in the state.

Charles City/Nashua will again play host this Saturday at the Nashua Fish and Game Club for the Nashua Invitational.