The Henning Hornet trap team wrapped up its five week fall season placing fith in a stacked conference. Conference 11 had seven teams:  Alexandria (1), Irondale (2), Lakeville South (3), Marshall (4), Littlefork-Big Falls (6) and Lake City (7). 

“With our continued growth we end up competing against some bigger schools. The conferences are adjusted each season and are based on the number of shooters that are on your team. This fall we had 24 shooters. Many teams do not even participate in the fall league and many other schools that normally have bigger teams have less participants for the fall, as the spring season is the regular season for Trap,” said coach Dakota Aeling. 

The Hornets will compete against another set of schools this spring as the conferences will change again depending on the number of shooters they have.

“It can be tough competing against bigger schools. Many of their shooters only participate in this one activity. In Henning, almost every student-athlete we have is involved in at least one other activity, many of them are involved in two or three during the same season, many times leaving them to shoot after a full practice or event. It can be challenging, but I am happy that our kids have the opportunity to participate in such a great sport,” said Aeling. 

In the fall the team focuses on adjustments, and making subtle changes to hone in on their skills. The team’s focus is less on putting up good scores, but developing the skills to be more consistent.

The team had seven, 25-straight (25/25) rounds this fall (Jack Reinbold-3, William Schwartz-2, Josh Larson-1, Luke Schmidt-1), and one 50-straight (Jack Reinbold). 

“The team made great improvements with many personal best rounds for a number of our shooters,” said Aeling. 

Within the conference these shooters placed in the top 25, *Jack Reinbold-T-5th (23.3 avg), *William Schwart-11th (22.3 avg), *Josh Larson-12th (22.2 avg), *Ella Horn-9th (Female 18.1 avg). 

The Hornets also had many others shoot great averages for the season: Teghan Wiirre (22.67), Luke Schmidt (22.13), *Caleb Wattercott (20.2), Parker Samuelson (20.17), *Boe Mesker (20), *Eli Reinbold (19.7), Mason Samuelson (19.5), *Cameron Markuson (18.9), *Adrian Jones (18.7), *Cade Strege (18.6), Jacob Menze (18.5), *Houston Schwartz (18.2), *Mason Umland (18), *Dalton Guse (17.7), Isaac Schmidt (15), *Brody Lohse (14.8), *Alex Castro (14.7), *Tony Castro (13.6), *Emily Hanson (12.6), *Haley Hanson (10.8). 

“Overall I am very proud of all our shooters. Many of them see their scores go down as they switch guns and try different things during this time of the year. It can be challenging to change things and go backwards, but in the long run it pays off,” said Aeling. 

*Completed 5/5 weeks.