Twenty-two students participated in five week league

Contributed photos
Members of the Henning School fall trap team included: Front row: Luke Schmidt, Jacob Menze, Boe Mesker, Houston Schwartz, Mason Umland, Antonio Castro and Isaac Schmidt. Back row: Eli Reinbold, Brody Mesker, Josh Larson, William Schwartz, Noah Umland, Cayden Dittberner, Mason Samuelson, Adrian (AJ) Jones and Ella Horn. Not pictured: Dominic Campbell, Vincent Graham, Teghan Wiirre, Cade Strege, Jack Reinbold and Caleb Wattercott. 

Hornet fall trap gives a new spin to “Friday Night Lights” with the Hornets shooting their scores under the lights during their fall season. 

Dominic Campbell, Mason Samuelson, Cade Strege, Noah Umland, Vincent Graham and Brody Mesker line up for their turn during a night of shooting at the fall trap league. 

The Henning trap team completed its five week fall season in late October. With busy schedules the team shoots on Monday nights after school, and for many of the shooters after their other extra curricular activities. With the sun setting earlier and earlier each week many of the shooters end up shooting their scores under the lights at the Henning Gun Range.

“It is kind of fun for them to be in the spotlight while they shoot. Some of our shooters play football or baseball so they know the feeling of being underneath the lights on a game night, but for those who don’t they get a little bit of that here, and it is exciting. The lighting isn’t optimal for shooting so we do see a few more birds dropped, but it is a lot of fun to do something different,” said coach Dakota Aeling.  

The fall team consisted of 22 shooters in grades 6-12. Henning is currently the only PRC school shooting in the fall league. 

“We like to use the fall season to sharpen our skills, work on developing skills, techniques, and make subtle changes to our shooters. This allows us to focus on our spring scores and not worry about how we finish. We see averages drop, but it is for the better as we look forward. We still see a number of personal bests throughout these 5 weeks,” said Aeling. 

Top 10 averages for the hornets for the fall season: Brody Mesker: 21.5 (23rd in the conference), Dominic Campbell: 21.25, Mason Samuelson: 20.90, Vincent Graham: 20.50, Luke Schmidt: 20.38, Jack Reinbold: 20.25, William Schwartz: 20.20, Adrian (AJ) Jones: 19.80, Josh Larson: 19.63, Noah Umland: 19.10.

  The Hornets had 4 members shoot 25 out of 25 this fall season; Week 1- Brody Mesker, Mason Samuleson. Week 2- Vincent Graham, Brody Mesker.