The Hillsdale College Shotgun Team faced a packed day of shooting and some intense winds in the first annual Michigan College Shotgun Championships. The event was held Saturday, October 1st at Hillsdale's own John Halter Shooting Sports Education Center. In attendance were Hillsdale, Michigan State University, Olivet College, Ferris State, and Lake Superior State University.
The Chargers began the day with Sporting Clays. Dealing with the most difficult lighting conditions of the day, Hillsdale's top squad still earned first place ahead of Michigan State and Olivet. Sophomore Kyle Fleck (90/100), senior Ida Brown (90), and freshman Davis Hay (89) were the team's top three performers for a total score of 269/300. Those three Chargers earned men's gold, lady's gold, and men's silver respectively individually with junior Jackson Sokel's 88 earning him bronze.
Next, Hillsdale competed in American Trap. The team again took the team gold with a score of 485/500 followed by Lake Superior and Ferris in third. Senior Woody Glazer earned the top prize individually with a score of 99 while sophomore Jonathan Calabrese (98) and Hay (97) finished second and third. The team's score was rounded out by sophomore Gavin Drill (96) and Brown (95) who also finished as top lady.
The Chargers completed their sweep with a score of 293/300 in American Skeet. Michigan State finished runner-up and Olivet took third. Sokel and Fleck earned second and third respectively as individuals after being bested in a shoot-off by MSU's Matt Peterson after competition scores of 98/100. Glazer was the Charger's third highest score with 97. With a score of 96, Brown finished as high lady.
Breaking 1047/1100 targets, Hillsdale brings home the traveling team HOA trophy after besting runner-up MSU by over 100 targets. Glazer earned the coveted individual HOA award with 284/300 while Brown was just a few targets short of him with 281, taking the HOA lady award.
Shoot individual scores: https://iclays.com/scores/scores10681.html
The Chargers also took home the top honors in the Michigan College Shotgun Conference. Freshman Davis Hay, sophomore Josh Corbin, and junior Will Stuart all tied for the top score in American Trap with a perfect 150/150. Junior Jessica Strasser was high lady in Trap with 143 while senior Ida Brown was runner up with 142 and freshman Sophia Bultema finished third with 132. The team's score of 747/750 bested runner-up Lake Superior State University and third-place finisher Michigan State University.
In Skeet, Hillsdale's total score of 448/450 earned them the top spot ahead of Olivet College and Michigan State, both of which tied for second. Stuart again finished first with a perfect 150 but shares the title with MSU's Matt Peterson. Hay and freshman Jordan Sapp tied for third overall. Strasser was again first amongst the ladies closely followed by Brown and Bultema.
Hillsdale finished as the HOA team in the conference with a total score of 1192/1200. Michigan State was runner-up, Olivet was third.
Conference scores: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1i98UnZVXrpif9-bP71irbQRfHLSN4LNm5biUl-3z-0g/edit#gid=0
Written by Jordan Hintz
Photo by Summer Fields