Over the weekend, Hillsdale College’s seven member shotgun team won the second place high overall team award at the SCTP Central Midwest Collegiate Shotgun Championships hosted by Lindenwood University in Missouri.
High overall team awards are determined by adding every member of the team’s scores together. Multiple individual feats contributed to winning second place in this category. In fact, the team came back to Hillsdale with a total of 11 trophies.
The competition included 120 shooters from 14 highly-ranked shooting colleges in the Midwest. The number one ranked team, Lindenwood, did not compete because they hosted the event.
Freshman Ian Pentecost won second place high overall in the tournament, meaning he had the highest number of shots after the scores from all the events were added up. He lost first place by just one shot. Co-captain sophomore Joe Kain placed third overall, and senior co-captain Blake Scott took eighth.
Pentecost and Kain both made it to the super finals in American trapshooting.
In the super finals, the top five shooters from the initial event compete against each other for first place.
“It’s basically another chance at the win,” Pentecost said.
Pentecost came out with the victory, scoring 98/100, and Kain took second with 96/100. Pentecost also won the international trap event, where Kain took third.
“I was surprised with the win in American [trap], but for international [trap], I knew that was a level of competition I could compete at,” Pentecost said.
In the ladies division, freshman KC Borman won first place in American trap with 94/100 shots and freshman Anna Pfaff won first place in the international trap.
Borman, who has had to take time off from shooting due to a shoulder injury earlier in the year, said she was surprised and proud of her success.
“That was my first shoot back since October and I was only able to practice twice before [the competition]. I couldn’t sleep the night before; I woke up super early and was ready to go. So I was kinda nervous, but ready to finally be back,” Borman said.
Scott said he was not surprised the freshmen on the team did so well.
“They’re great shots, that’s why we recruited them. We had high hopes for them and they are exceeding them. I’m being beat by freshmen, but I’m not upset because they are great shots,” he said.
Because Hillsdale’s team is so small, the members participate in all of the events. Scott said this is an advantage for the team because it turns the members into all-around great shooters instead of specialized shooters like most big teams have.
This competition was a good indication of how the team will place at the National Championship, which takes place in San Antonio, Texas during Hillsdale College’s spring break.
Since the team won the Division III National title last year, they got bumped up and are now competing in Division II.
“I think the team is going to shoot really well [at nationals] and we’ll have a chance at winning,” Pentecost said. “We have three weeks of intense practice coming up so everyone will be on their game.”