The Hillsdale College Shotgun Team has completed possibly its most successful semester of collegiate shooting and is looking ahead to the Spring and the ACUI/SCTP Collegiate Clay Target Championships. At all intercollegiate matches that the Chargers fully competed in, they came out with the top prize: first place Team High Overall.
At the ACUI/SCTP International National Championships, Hillsdale took first place team in both International Skeet and International Trap. In the former, the Chargers put on an absolute master class. Breaking 363/375 total targets, a world-level score, they bested second place by a whopping 88 targets. Sophomore Jordan Sapp and freshman Madeline Corbin were awarded the men's and women's individual National Championships respectively. Hillsdale then won International Trap by 33 targets with seniors Jackson Sokel and Ida Brown crowned National Champions.
Hillsdale swept all team awards at the ACUI/SCTP Upper Midwest Conference Championships. They were crowned first place Team High Overall as well first in American Trap, Trap Doubles, American Skeet, Skeet Doubles, Sporting Clays, and Super Sporting. Brown earned first place Women's High Overall with she, Sapp, Madeline Corbin and juniors Kyle Fleck and Joshua Corbin all winning first place in at least one event.
The ACUI/SCTP Fall Central Midwest Conference Championship was the largest intercollegiate regional shoot to-date and Hillsdale took home the highest possible honor against 24 other teams. They earned first place team in American Trap and American Skeet with National-level scores of 496 and 497 respectively as well as first in Super Sporting and Skeet Doubles. Brown and sophomore Davis Hay were the individual High Overall with Fleck and seniors Jessie Strasser and Will Stuart winning events in their categories.
Although they were not able to compete in both days of the event due to a prior commitment, a handful of Hillsdale student-athletes traveled to Indiana to compete in the second day of the Hoosier Invitational Shoot. They took first place in all events that day: American Skeet, Modified Bunker, and Sporting Clays.
At the Michigan College State Shoot, Hillsdale put up one of their finest showings. The Chargers put up near-perfect team scores in Trap and Skeet (399/400 in each) and won by a large margin in Sporting Clays on their way to first place team high overall with Brown and Joshua Corbin earning individual honors.
Hillsdale is looking ahead to a variety of events leading to the collegiate Nationals in San Antonio in March. They will compete in two more ACUI/SCTP conference championships, host their Invitational in February, and have athletes shoot in the upcoming Olympic Trails.
Photo by Emma Purdy