Junior Ida Brown became the first Hillsdale College Shotgun team member to medal at a world cup, and Shotgun Team Assistant Coach Caitlin Connor Royer won two silver medals with the USA National Shotgun Team at the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup that took place March 8-19 in Nicosia, Cyprus.
Brown won a silver medal in the Women’s Trap Team event. Connor won silver medals for the Mixed Team Skeet event and the Women’s Skeet Team event.
According to Shotgun Team Assistant Coach Dale Royer, Brown did extremely well for her first overseas competition.
“She had one round that hurt her for her individual score,” Royer said. “Aside from that, Ida won the silver for the three women team. Ida and another team member both had the highest scores for the team–a 68/75.”
“Caitlin was high overall in the qualification score,” Royer said. “She scored a 122/125 which is an absolutely stellar score. The next closest score to Caitlin was another U.S. competitor with a 117. So she had a pretty substantial lead.”
According to Connor, she switched from a Krieghoff to a Beretta shotgun a few months ago.
“I’m still getting to know the gun and trusting it but I think I did really well in Cyprus,” Connor said. “Overall I feel very proud. I ended up only missing three targets over three days.”
According to Connor, the weather was the most challenging part of shooting in Cyprus.
“It’s an island in the Mediterranean Sea so the weather is usually pretty warm,” Connor said. “But while we were there we literally dealt with every element. There were 40 mile an hour winds one day. It was raining one day, it snowed another day, and it was cold every day.”
According to Brown, she shot four out of the 10 days that the team was in Cyprus.
“The first day in Cyprus we didn’t have to shoot. The second and third day was practice. Three days were individual events. I had a day off in the middle because everyone else was shooting the mixed team. The team event was the next day and then we flew out the day after that,” Brown said.
According to Brown, there were seven countries competing in the mixed team events.
“The team as a whole shot together for the mixed team events. We each got to shoot 75 targets for the day. At the end, we had shot a 68/68 and a 60/63 which put us at second,” Brown said. “The way they run team events is they take the top four teams. The top two compete for gold and silver and the third and fourth teams compete for bronze.”
According to Brown, the U.S. made the gold medal match so they shot in the final with the Australian team.
“The way the final works is all six competitors are out in a line–three Australians and us three from the U.S.,” Brown said. “You shoot passes of five. There’s a winner for each pass and you get points. We ended up losing to the Australians six to four.”
According to Brown, the final round involves an untouched field and erupting targets.
“There’s nothing like shooting a final. You get one shot at each bird,” Brown said. “We shot on the final field. No one shot on that field for the day. They fill the bunker with flash targets so when you hit the target it erupts bright pink.”
According to Brown, shooting in a final round is a rewarding experience.
“It’s very satisfying to go and shoot a final because you know you made it that far when you’re in the gold medal match,” Brown said. “You know you’ve already won a medal so there’s not nearly as much pressure on yourself because you know you’re getting a medal no matter which way it goes.”
According to Brown, she is ranked 23 out of 56 in the world after competing in Cyprus. Her main goal is to qualify for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
“Being on this team doesn’t necessarily put me on the shortlist for the Olympics but it gives me the traveling experience that I need to make the team,” Brown said.
According to Brown, her job on the U.S. Women’s Trap Team is to earn Olympic quotas.
“Up until May we’ll shoot four total World Cups including the one we just shot in Cyprus,” Brown said. “Then in July we will come back to Hillsdale to shoot in the national championship in order to earn our spots on the team again. Then we will travel to world championships where the first Olympic quotas will be up for grabs.”
Brown said she feels confident about re-qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Trap Team.
“The scores are cumulative so my scores from Tucson where I originally made the team also count,” Brown said. “Also, I will be requalifying for the team here at the Halter Center so it helps that I’m familiar with it.”
According to Royer, Brown can definitely make it to the Olympics.
“Ida more than has the ability to make it to the Olympics,” Royer said. “The first time I saw Ida shoot was at Nationals at our national championships in Hillsdale last summer. Ida caught my eye because she was shooting trap extremely well and had just started shooting it.”
According to Royer, once you have been involved with the sport long enough, you can spot natural talent, hand-eye coordination, and gun pointing ability.
“Ida had all that,” Royer said.
According to Royer, Brown trained with himself and Connor every time they had an opportunity. They shot together from November until they went to Tucson in January where Brown qualified for the U.S. Women’s Trap Team.
“We helped Ida to believe that she had what it took to make the U.S. Women’s Trap Team,” Connor said. “Ida hasn’t shot a ton of USA shooting selection competitions so she’s still fairly new to the international style of shooting. But she went down and made the travel team. I definitely have very high hopes for her future.”
According to Brown, being on the team is very humbling.
“The women I’m shooting with have already shot their fair share of world cups and have been on the team for a few years now,” Brown said. “I’m shooting with a lot of people who are very talented at what they do. I’m just trying to keep up with them.”
According to Head Coach Jordan Hintz, Ida is busy traveling the World Cups so she is not doing as much with the Hillsdale Shotgun Team at the moment.
“I’m proud of how far Ida has gotten in such a short amount of time,” Hintz said.
Brown and Connor will be traveling to Peru this week for the next World Cup.
“Because I’m ranked fourth, I will shoot in the RPO position, which is Ranking Points Only,” Brown said. “This means that I can still move up in my world ranking but I can’t win a medal there.”
After competing at the World Cup in Peru, Brown and the team will travel to Italy and Azerbaijan.
