After winning its third Division III national championship last month, the Hillsdale College shotgun team is considering a move up to Division II from its current D-III classification.
The move would be in expectation of an increase in team members and a continuing drive to compete against higher levels of competition. The current number of members is nine, but head coach Michael Carl’s scouting could result in more than 15 for next season.
The issue with the move is that the team may not be as successful against larger teams. Shotgun is scored by the five best shooters’ scores, and since typical Division II teams have at least 20 shooters, there is a larger chance that five of their shooters will shoot well.
“There are good and bad reasons for the move,” Carl said. “The team seems divided on what to do right now, and we’re not sure what will happen.”
Carl explained that the teams in D-II meets are schools like Texas A&M and University of Missouri. Although the schools are larger in student population, division consideration for shotgun has little to do with school size. Texas A&M could shoot in D-I, but they drop to D-II in order to win, which is something else Carl and the team must consider, given their success in D-III.
“It really only has to do with the number of shooters. If a large school like Texas A&M only had nine shooters, they would probably shoot right alongside of us in D-III, even though they’re bigger as a school.”
While no decision has been reached yet, Carl said they will decide by next year. He wants to keep winning championships, but he also wants to make sure the team keeps challenging themselves, and competing in Division II would make that possible.
