The Hillsdale College Shotgun Team competed at the ACUI/SCTP Fall Central Midwest Conference Championship from October 9-11. The event, held in Sparta, IL at the World Shooting and Recreation Complex, featured 50 each of Trap Doubles, Skeet Doubles, and Super Sporting as well as 100 each of Trap, Skeet, and Sporting Clays. Over 350 competitors from 26 teams attended, making this one of the largest collegiate regional shoots ever.
The Chargers began day 1 with Skeet Doubles and Trap Doubles. They were the 2nd highest scoring team in Skeet Doubles after finishing with 245/250 targets broken, just a single point behind Bethel University's 246/250. Junior Marin McKinney's 49/50 earned her 2nd place in the women's category. Junior Taylor Dale and senior Madeline Corbin's 48/50 earned them a 3-way shoot-off for 3rd place and after which Dale was victorious and Corbin finished 4th. Contributing team scores were ties between senior Alex Hoffman (49/50), sophomore Max Versluys (49/50), McKinney, freshman Cameron Roberts (49/50), sophomore Zach Hinze (49/50), and sophomore Brayden Hoppa (49/50).
Breaking 241/250 in Trap Doubles also earned the Chargers 2nd place. Making the squad were senior Davis Hay (50/50), Hinze (49/50), senior Luke Johnson (48/50), junior Lucci Kern (47/50), and Hoppa (47/50). They were only 2 targets behind Fort Hays State University for the highest score in the discipline. Hay, Hinze, and Kern were all involved in shoot-offs for medal position and won, taking Men's 1st, Men's 3rd, and Women's 2nd respectively.
Sporting Clays and Skeet were the events for Day 2. In the former, Hillsdale took 3rd place behind Emmanuel University and Lindenwood University after shooting a challenging course. Top scores were Hay (82/100), Johnson (78/100), Roberts (76/100), Hinze (74/100), and senior Ava Downs (73/100) for a team score of 383/500. Downs' performance earned her the women's silver medal.
The Chargers hit 495/500 targets in American Skeet. Emmanuel took 1st with 499, Lindenwood with 2nd at 496, and 3rd went to Fort Hays with 495. Hillsdale missed the podium after a team reverse-run tiebreaker. 5 scores of 99/100 made up the Hillsdale squad: Versluys, Roberts, Johnson, Hoppa, and Hoffman.
The final day of competition included American Trap and Super Sporting. Hillsdale tied for the 6th highest team score in Trap with 490/500. Hay was the top scorer with a perfect 100-straight. Breaking 99s were Hoffman and Hinze while the final two scores Corbin (96/100) and Johnson (96/100).
Another challenging course was set for Super Sporting. Corbin broke the most targets of any Charger, 39/50. Hoffman and Dale each broke 37/50. Johnson, Hay, Versluys, and Hoppa's 36/50 rounded out the squad score. The team score of 185/250 was not in the top 3.
The Chargers finished 4th Team High Overall, narrowly missing the podium by 6 targets. They had a total of 2039/2250. Hay was the team's highest men's finisher with 413/450, the 5th highest of the tournament. 2nd and 3rd place Women's HOA went to Corbin (395/450) and Dale (386/450). Downs (378/450), Kern (373/450), and McKinney (372/450) were 6th-8th respectively.
"We had a strong first two days, but stumbled a bit on the home stretch," said head coach Jordan Hintz. "We've got to keep the intensity up going into the final day of competition. Barely missing the podium is tough, we have to use it as motivation to shoot to the level we're capable of."
The Chargers next travel to Indiana to compete in the Hoosier Fall Classic from October 17-18.
Results: https://app.sssfonline.com/nationals/5294
Super Sporting
Madeline Corbin – Women's 1st
Taylor Dale – Women's 2nd
Skeet Doubles
Team 2nd
Marin McKinney – Women's 2nd
Taylor Dale – Women's 3rd
Trap Doubles
Team 2nd
Davis Hay – Men's 1st
Zach Hinze – Men's 3rd
Lucci Kern – Women's 2nd
Sporting Clays
Team 3rd
Ava Downs – Women's 2nd
High Overall
Madeline Corbin – Women's 2nd
Taylor Dale – Women's 3rd
