CEDAR FALLS - Approximately 900 sets of eyes will be put to the ultimate test this week at the Iowa State Trapshoot.

At its most basic level, the sport of trapshooting consists of the ability to spot a spinning, 4.3-inch disc as it darts into the sky at 20 yards or more.

If a shooter can't do that, then the steadiest nerve, the sharpest mental focus or the most expensive gun won't make a bit of difference.

Lou Ann Munson stated the sport's greatest truism Wednesday: "If you can't see the targets, you can't hit 'em."

Munson, of Howard Lake, Minn., knows what she's talking about, and not just because she's been named to trapshooting's All-American team more than 30 times.

This is her first Iowa shoot since undergoing cataract surgery on her shooting eye in May.

"I've had it for five years, and it got to the point last year where the targets were getting gray for me," Munson said. "My doctor knew I was a shooter ever since it started growing. It's something that probably wasn't bad enough to affect your everyday life, but for shooting it was a real problem."

It took Munson all of nine days following the procedure to get back on the range to test the results.

"It was so much brighter, I was amazed," Munson said. "A friend of mine told me six or seven years ago that she could see the target spinning, and I said, 'Huh, they spin?' We were in Nebraska shooting on a bright sunny day (after the surgery), and I was watching the targets and I could actually see the rings. In 30 years of shooting, I'd never seen that before."

Long after competition ended on the first day of the shoot Tuesday, Kassi Olson of Britt was at the practice trap with her father, Gary Olson, working on one of the many other visual problems that can affect a shooter's performance.

"Somehow, my left eye became dominant over my right eye," Olson said. "I'm a one-eyed shooter, so now I'm not seeing the target correctly. It's either over or above it."

Olson is a rising star in shooting circles, capturing the Iowa ladies' singles title last year at age 20, so the struggle with what the doctors call ocular dominance has been an unexpected challenge.

"It's a common thing, but I didn't figure it would happen to me," Olson said. "I averaged 95.5 in singles before, and now I'm down to 88."

Olson appeared to be back on target Wednesday, capturing ladies' class trophies in both the Class Singles and Director's Doubles events.

Olson has been working with a pair of specially designed shooter's glasses provided by Decot Sport Glasses distributor Della McClure, who does a brisk business at the state shoot with shooters who have visual trouble.

"(Switching dominance) is more common with women for some reason," McClure said.

"We use what we call a Decot dot, to mark out the pupil on the non-shooting eye so that when you're down on the gun you still have peripheral vision on the edge, but straight away your other eye will do the work that it's supposed to."

Harry Hegge, of Cedar Falls, recalled a particularly unique solution to one shooter's visual impairment.

"I can't remember who it was, but years ago we had a shooter who was blind in his right eye, and he couldn't shoot left-handed," Hegge said. "What he did was he made an off-set stock so that he still shot right-handed, but the gun barrel and everything was on his left side."

All shooters are required to wear eyewear for protection, but the choice of lens style and color can benefit performance, too.

Phil Thyer of Independence, the reigning state singles champion, wears the lightest lens color he can.

"When my scores started with a six instead of a nine, I decided it was time to go to the eye doctor," Thyer said. "I've got cataracts, and what happens when you get cataracts is that the lens in your eye gets thicker and doesn't let enough light through. That's the reason I wear a light lens, to let as much light through as possible."

Thyer was seeing the targets well enough to win Wednesday's Director's Doubles with the only perfect 100 by an Iowa shooter.

Other big scores by area shooters Wednesday included 97s by Danny Meyne of Greene and Larry Bumsted of Eldora in the handicap and Bumsted's 99 in doubles.

The shoot continues today through Sunday, and admission is free to spectators.

Wednesday's results

Singles Class Championship

RESIDENT

CLASS A - Randall Strauss (Marion) 100; CLASS B - Gary Olson (Britt) 99; CLASS D

- David King (LeMars) 98; SUB-JUNIOR - Jarrod Hatfield (Ottumwa) 99; JUNIOR - Colton Stephens (Wapello) 98; SUB-JUNIOR - Jarrod Hatfield (Ottumwa) 99; LADY - Shelly Heitner (Fort Dodge) 99.

NON-RESIDENT

CLASS B - Lucas Young (Aberdeen, SD) 97; CLASS D - Ron Duy (Elgin, Wis.) 97; SENIOR VETERAN - Donald Meuer (Dodgeville, Wis.) 97; SUB-JUNIOR - Nathan Hofer (Huron, SD) 97; JUNIOR - Dennis Roper (Farmington, Mo.) 99; LADY - Jacquelyn Snellenberger (Coldwater, Mich.) 99.

President's Handicap

RESIDENT

CHAMPION - Danny Meyne (Greene) 97; 19-21 YARDS - Gayle Lawson (Cedar Rapids) 97; 22-24 YARDS - Darrell Machalek (LeClaire) 95; 25-26 YARDS - Dean Edstrom (Cedar Rapids) 97; 27 YARDS - Larry Busted (Eldora) 97; SENIOR VETERAN - Dr.

William Wessels (Marshalltown) 96; VETERAN - Andy Johansen (Indianola) 94; SUB-JUNIOR - Jarrod Hatfield (Ottumwa) 93; JUNIOR - Colton Stephens (Wapello) 96; LADY - Kasi Olson (Britt) 92.

NON-RESIDENT

19-21 YARDS - Brad Bahe (Minneapolis) 93; 22-24 YARDS - Thomas Knudson (Isanti,

Min.) 96; 25-26 YARDS - George Roth (Sauk City, Wis.) 94; SENIOR VETERAN - Curt Wakely (Graham, Mo.) 92; VETERAN - Kenneth Jones (Quincy, Ill.) 92; SUB-JUNIOR - Nathan Hofer (Huron, SD) 85; JUNIOR - Travis Stephens (Miller, SD) 94; LADY - Dixi Campbell (Janesville, Wis.) 97.

Director's Doubles

RESIDENT

CHAMPION - Phil Thyer (Independence) 100; CLASS AAA - Larry Busted (Eldora) 99; CLASS AA - Doug Stanek (Fort Dodge) 99; CLASS A - Ronald Munkel (Panora) 99; CLASS B - Dan Cain (Stanton) 96; CLASS C - Jacob Conner (Davenport) 96; CLASS D

- Robert Olson II (Stuart) 97; SENIOR VETERAN - Darrell Machalek (LeClaire) 96; VETERAN - Jim Pemble (Sac City) 98; SUB-JUNIOR - Jarrod Hatfield (Ottumwa) 96; JUNIOR - Steven Simon (Center Point) 98; LADY - Kassi Olson (Britt) 96.

NON-RESIDENT

CLASS AA - Roman Pompe (Havlickuv Brod, Czech Republic) 98; CLASS D - Raymond Pumel (Martell, Neb.) 89; SENIOR VETERAN - George Snellenberger (Coldwater,

Mich.) 97; SUB-JUNIOR - Nathan Hofer (Huron, SD) 98; JUNIOR - Travis Stevens (Miller, SD) 94.

NOTE: All ties from Wednesday's competition will be carried over to subsequent events.