Sports shooters split meets to end September

The Cougars Sports Shooting team hit the road on Sept. 21 and 28 for meets in Ventura and Waterloo, Iowa. NICC went 1-1 over the two weeks, with several team members finishing with top-five performances.

Waldorf University hosted the Waldorf Shootout on Sept. 21, with Buena Vista University, Iowa Central Community College and NICC all competing. NICC finished first over both schools by notching a team score of 474.

Cougar athlete Taylor Reinhardt (91) finished third for females individually, while Colton Tollefsrud (98) and Tristan Lewison (98) tied for first in the male individuals. A shootoff between the two ultimately crowned Tollefsrud the top shooter on the day.

"Three of the student-athletes were able to bring home some medals, and our top five competitors of the day got the victory over three talented schools," Head Coach Anthony Sisneros said. "This out-of-conference competition was a great warmup for our next meet, which will be a great challenge for our team."

Coach Sisneros was right, as NICC got all they could handle against the Hawkeye RedTails in Waterloo. The RedTails claimed four of the top five female individual scores and nine of the top 10 males. NICC dropped this meet 485-457.

"Not every day will be sunshine and rainbows," Tristan Lewison, Cougar shooter, said. "This meet was a good example of that. It doesn't matter what happens, except how you react and adjust to the situation. I'd say this meet, we did well at adjusting. It wasn't our best performance but provided a well-needed experience."

Colton Hruska (92), Tristan Lewison (92) and Kyle Larson (91) were the top NICC male performers. Ashley Fischer (92), Taylor Reinhardt (90), Dakota Lacina (89), Elizabeth Ward (88) and MaKenzie Wiest (62) were the top females.

"We had high hopes going into our match versus Hawkeye," Sisneros said. "With strong winds and equipment malfunctions, these distractions seemed too much for our student-athletes to overcome. We will take this experience and use it as we move forward."

The Cougars head into October with a 2-2 overall record. NICC will now travel to Southeastern Community College for their meet on Oct. 5.