Steel Shooters of Traer search for national title

Three North Tama students have their sights set on bringing home a national title this summer.

Megan Carty, Tanner Calderwood and Clayton Sienknecht are three of the fastest guns in the Midwest. The trio forms the Steel Shooters of Traer and in just its second year of existance, the team has already captured back-to-back Iowa Scholastic Pistol Program championships.

The Steel Shooters will make their second consecutive appearance at the Scholastic Pistol Program national championships in Sparta, Ill., during the week of July 13.

'They enjoy shooting, the speed, especially the fast stage they really enjoy and they'll practice until all the ammo is gone, so it's not hard to keep them practicing,' Traer coach Pete Holden said.

Carty holds the title of the fastest female shooter in the state for high school and college aged girls, and in a couple weeks, she hopes to improve upon her ninth-place finish at last year's national championships.

'I want to hopefully win it,' Carty said. 'I know that will be kind of hard, but I'll just work for it.'

In a sport where precision is just as important as speed, there are a few things the shooters try to keep in mind before each round.

'I'm always running through the stages in my mind saying I need to hit this and hit this and always running through and make sure I hit the plates,' Sienknecht said.

Said Calderwood: 'I tell myself, 'stay calm,' and just run through the stages in my mind and picture me doing perfect and it makes me calm.'

The trio took third at nationals as a team last summer, and now that they're not rookies anymore, the team is hoping the adrenaline levels won't be so high this time around.

'We were all kind of jumpy and ready to do it, but first round we didn't shoot very good, but after that we came back and did really good,' Calderwood said.

And if the three keep that up, they might just have a shot at a national title.