From October 10-12, the Hillsdale College Shotgun Team traveled to the World Shooting and Recreation Complex in Sparta, IL to compete in the ACUI/SCTP Fall Central Midwest Conference Championship. The event featured over 200 competitors from 19 teams from across the country competing in 100 each of American Trap, American Skeet, and Sporting Clays plus 50 each of Trap Doubles, Skeet Doubles, and Super Sporting.
 
The event began Friday with both Trap Doubles and Skeet Doubles. In Skeet Doubles, the Chargers finished as the 3^rd place team with a total score of 239/250 behind Fort Hays State University and Drury University. Four Chargers broke 48 out of 50 targets: seniors Kyle Fleck and Davis Hay, junior Luke Johnson, and freshman David Texas Ardis. Freshman Zach Hinze's 47 was the team's fifth score.
 
Hillsdale tied for the 3^rd highest score in Trap Doubles with University Tennessee Southern and behind Drury and Fort Hays. Freshman Roman Barrett's perfect 50/50 was the team's highest score and earned him the individual men's silver after a shootoff. Johnson again hit 48 targets. Hay and sophomore Marin McKinney each broke 47/50 which earned McKinney 2^nd place individual woman. Senior Leif Andersen, freshman Henrik Kiledal, and sophomore Taylor Dale all hit 46 targets and Dale took 3^rd place individual woman.
 
Saturday, the Chargers competed in American Skeet and Sporting Clays. They finished in 3^rd place in Sporting Clays after hitting a team total of 422/500 on a challenging course. Emmanuel University and Fort Hays took the top two honors. Both Johnson and junior Alex Hoffman broke 88 targets out of 100 and after a shootoff, Johnson took men's 3^rd. Ardis, Dale, and McKinney rounded out the team score with 85, 81, and 80 respectively. Dale earned 3^rd place individual woman.
 
Hillsdale missed the podium in American Skeet by just a single target with a score of 489/500. Hay was Hillsdale's top scorer with 99 targets broken out of 100. Hinze and Johnson each hit 98. McKinney's 97 earned her the women's bronze medal. Also shooting 97s were sophomore Lucci Kern, Andersen, Fleck, and freshman Max Versluys.
 
The final day of competition was Super Sporting and American Trap. In Trap, two Chargers broke perfect 100/100 scores: Hay and Hinze. Hoffman and Barrett each hit 99 and McKinney, Johnson, and Versluys all broke 98 targets. The team score of 496/500 was just a target out of a tie for 3^rd place.
 
Hillsdale's top performance of the shoot was in Super Sporting. They tied for first with Emmanuel after hitting 221 out of 250 targets. Ardis and Andersen led the way with scores of 45/50. They each tied for 3^rd in the event but fell just short after a shootoff. Hoffman (44) and Dale (44) were next highest finishers and Dale earned women's first place. Fleck and Johnson each hit 43 targets.
 
With a total team score of 2105 out of 2250, Hillsdale finished 2^nd High Overall just nine targets behind Fort Hays State University. 3^rd went to Emmanuel University. Charger athletes took 3^rd place individual HOA in both the men's and women's category with Luke Johnson (423/450) and Taylor Dale (405/450) winning the awards respectively.
 
"We continue to show improvement in the sporting disciplines," said head coach Jordan Hintz. "We had good performances from every athlete and solid enough scores overall to propel us to 2^nd HOA. It wasn't super flashy and there's work to do, but we have every reason to be proud of the weekend."
 
Hillsdale athletes next travel to the National Sporting Clays Association's National Championship in San Antonio. They then host the Michigan Tri-State Shoot on October 25^th.
 
 
Results: https://app.sssfonline.com/nationals/4915
2^nd Team High Overall
Luke Johnson – 3^rd Men's High Overall
Taylor Dale – 3^rd Women's High Overall
 
Skeet Doubles
3^rd Team
 
Doubles Trap
Roman Barrett – 2^nd Men's
Marin McKinney – 2^nd Women's
Taylor Dale – 3^rd Women's
 
Sporting Clays
Team 3^rd
Luke Johnson – 3^rd Men's
Taylor Dale – 3^rd Women's
 
American Skeet
Marin McKinney – 3^rd Women's
 
Super Sporting
1^st Team
Taylor Dale – 1^st Women's