William Penn Tops Field at Hastings Invite

Grand Island, Neb.--The Statesmen shotgun sports team nearly swept all disciplines en route to a crown at the highly-competitive Hastings Invitational Saturday and Sunday.

WPU finished first out of 12 squads with a score of 1,863-for-2,000. Iowa Western CC was a distant second at 1,818, while Fort Hays State was at 1,816.

Saturday opened with a challenging Sporting Clays battle. William Penn was the lone team to have all of its scorers in the 80s, finishing at 413-for-500 for the discipline victory.

Noah Seelye (So., Pella, Iowa, Mechanical Engineering) led the way with the best score of the event at 88-for-100. Colten Uitermarkt (Grad., Otley, Iowa, Master's of Organizational Leadership) was next at 83-for-100, while Carver Van Zee (Fr., Pella, Iowa, Industrial Technology) hit 82 of his targets.

The trio of Mathew Brindley (So., Earlham, Iowa, Industrial Technology), Noah DeBoef (So., Leighton, Iowa, Industrial Technology), and Cade Bowie (Fr., Benton, Ark., Business Management) all shot 80-for-100.

The navy and gold came up just short in Saturday's next two competitions, placing second in both American Skeet (482-for-500) and Super Sporting (242-for-250). The Statesmen were just one shot out of first in both shoots.

The duo of Brindley and Uitermarkt led WPU in American Skeet at 98-for-100, while Block was at 96-for-100. De Boef, Bowie, and Dominick Ver Meer (Jr., Pella, Iowa) wrapped up the scoring at 95-for-100.

Uitermarkt was joined by Russell Malterud (Grad., North Branch, Minn., Master's of Organizational Leadership) and Raylee Bishop (So., Ankeny, Iowa, Engineering) as the top shooter in Super Sporting as each went 49-for-50. Van Zee scored at 48-for-50, while Brindley, Hunter Block (Jr., Eldridge, Iowa, Business Management), and Christopher Berkshire-Lewis (Jr., Kansas City, Mo., Business Management) all hit 47 of their 50 attempts.

William Penn locked up the team crown by sweeping Sunday's events, taking gold in both American Trap (486-for-500) and Doubles Skeet (240-for-250).

Scores of 99-for-100 came via Block and Malterud as they paced WPU in American Trap, while Ver Meer (97-for-100), Uitermarkt (96-for-100), and Dryden DeKoning (So., Newton, Iowa, Business Management) (95-for-100) also got on the board for the Statesmen.

Block, Brindley, Seelye, Uitermarkt, and Ver Meer represented William Penn in Doubles Skeet.

Uitermarkt's consistency guided him to a score of 373-for-400 and the Male High Overall Athlete award. KayLynn Sieber (So., Marshall, Minn., Biology) was in the mix on the women's side with a bronze finish at 351-for-400; Sieber was just five shots out of first place.

"Grand Island always proves to be a very tough place to shoot for some reason," Head Coach Steve Heaton said. "It shows in everyone's scores, but we kept it together and finished as a team. As one can see in the results, this team is becoming very deep and very balanced. It is a great feeling as a coach to see that we are all becoming stronger athletes, teammates, and very well-rounded competitors."

Next Up: The Statesmen host the William Penn Invitational Saturday and Sunday at Black Oak Clays in Pella.