Hillsdale’s newest shooting sports team won first in the nation for 1911 model shooting and second for centerfire shooting, beating West Point, Virginia Tech, Texas A&M University, and other schools.
The Hillsdale College Action Shooting team competed in the Scholastic Action Shooting Program’s national tournament in Talladega, Alabama, on March 12 and 13. The team won three individual and three squad awards.
“With the hard work and dedication of many over the years, the Hillsdale Action Shooting Team has finally achieved its goal of being national champions,” Coach Adam Burlew said.
The Hillsdale team split into Squads A and B to compete in two categories: centerfire shooting on March 12 and 1911 pistol shooting on March 13.
Seniors Zac Ailes, Gregory Clement, Konrad Ludwig, and Zechariah Steiger competed on the A squad for the 1911 portion and won first place. Clement also won first place individually in the male 1911 category.
“This team began as a small club of dedicated enthusiasts with their own gear, their own ammunition, and a volunteer coach,” said Ailes, who serves as the team captain. “I had the opportunity to watch this team go from that to a winning collegiate team in just a few short years thanks to Hillsdale College.”
Action shooting consists of athletes shooting still targets of various sizes and distances in several courses, called stages, as quickly and accurately as possible. Each athlete shoots individually and times are combined for squad scores.
Centerfire shooting requires pistols that use ammunition with primer in the center of the bullet. The team used Springfield Armory XDM elite pistols. Clement, sophomore Patton Harmon, Ludwig, and Steiger shot in the A squad and placed second. Clement won third in the male centerfire category.
“There are certain aspects of my performance that please me, but I largely came away from nationals with a laundry list of things to work on and better myself at,” Clement said.
Senior Lionel Armstrong, junior William Galsterer, Harmon, and Dean Ballantyne shot in the B squad for 1911 and won third place.
“Part of the challenge of shooting in competition is that there is no warm-up, so something I think that our team needs to work on is shooting consistently out of the gate,” Ballantyne said.
“Now that the team knows what nationals are like, we know what it is that we need to refine at practice.”
Senior Sarah Wagoner won second place in the female 1911 category.
“I never dreamed I would be here when I started classes this fall,” Wagoner said. “It’s thrilling to be able to compete at this level and see our coaches’ training and the effort we all put in pay off.”
The action shooting team started five years ago and received recognition from the college as an official team this year.
“Over the last five years the team has evolved from an idea to a successful reality,” Burlew said.
Ailes said the team’s success was possible because of its sponsor, Springfield Armory.
“Springfield Armory supplied us with all the firearms we needed to train and compete at a high level in both Stock Service Pistol and 1911 divisions,” he said. “It has been a pleasure to have the opportunity to learn and shoot Springfield Armory’s new XDM Elite pistols. Their smooth operation and uncompromising reliability gave us the tools we needed.”
Steve Kramer, vice president of marketing for Springfield Armory, said the company “could not be more proud” to support the pistol team. “We are honored to be associated with this stellar institution,” Kramer said. “This is an impressive group of young people, and we are thrilled to be able to support them both on and off the range.”
Nationals showed the team areas to improve its practice and training for future competitions, Clement said.
“The people who win these matches are shooting four good stages, not one phenomenal one and three bad ones,” he said. “This will need to be developed through dedicated practice and trigger time. Consistent performances are the product of good consistent practice.”
The wins in Talladega would not have been possible without Burlew’s coaching, Steiger added.
“His knowledge, enthusiasm, and commitment to safety and excellence brought the best out in everyone on the team,” Steiger said.
Michael Sweeney, professor emeritus of accounting, was the faculty advisor when the team was a club. He still trains with the team in retirement and traveled to Alabama for nationals.
“I have more time to train with them,” Sweeney said. “Training outside for hours at a time in cold winter weather developed a sense of discipline, team spirit, and camaraderie.”
He added that “the coaches and team members are like a second family” to him.
Burlew said the team’s refusal to be satisfied and “always looking to increase their performance” was the reason for the wins.
“The team is excited to continue to strive towards excellence and carry on our new tradition of victory at the highest level,” he said.
