The Hillsdale College shotgun team won the Charger Spring Invitational at the Halter Shooting Sports Center this past weekend, beating Olivet College, Michigan State University, Grace College, and Purdue University with a total score of 799/875.
There were a total of 60 athletes at the invitational. Events included 100 doubles trap, 50 doubles skeet, and 25 five stand.
“Hillsdale had the top five athletes at the shoot,” Head Coach Jordan Hintz said. “Our top two overall athletes at the invitational were freshman Josh Corbin and sophomore Jackson Sokel. Corbin placed first and Sokel placed second for the invitational.”
According to Corbin, he placed second in five stand with a score of 22/25. Sokel won doubles trap with a score of 95/100.
“We definitely had the advantage with doubles trap because doubles trap was more than half of the event,” Sokel said. “A lot of the other schools don’t shoot a double trap lot.”
According to Sokel, not all athletes at the invitational were college students. Some of them were high school students interested in coming to Hillsdale College.
“It’s open to anyone and is a really good event for the high school students that come,” Sokel said. “When I was a high schooler, I went to the invitational because I was in contact with Coach Jordan.”
The high school students came on Friday so the team could meet them and their parents and tell them about the team.
“It’s definitely a really good recruiting event,” Sokel said.
According to Corbin, the invitational was the first shoot of the semester that the team got to shoot doubles in a competition
“We only shot doubles once last semester so it was nice to have the competition aspect of shooting those disciplines instead of just shooting them in practice,” Corbin said. “It was a good indicator of what we need to work on for the competition mindset in those games.”
According to Sokel, he was very happy with his performance this past weekend aside from some mental game challenges.
“For me, mental game challenges are about my process and making sure I do everything in the same order,” Sokel said. “Making sure I get ready and shoot in the same order as well as controlling my breathing is important.”
According to Sokel, a benefit of hosting a competition is the quality of the Halter Shooting Sports Center.
“We have one of the nicest clubs in the country so it’s a great way for us to show off our facilities to other schools and athletes,” Sokel said.
According to Corbin, the backgrounds and the equipment at the Halter Center are better quality than the other facilities that the team competes at.
“Our facilities are also a lot cleaner and nicer looking,” Corbin said. “But we still have to perform well at other clubs even though we’re spoiled in the aspect that we have such a nice facility to train and shoot at all of the time.”
The team leaves for ACUI Nationals in San Antonio, TX on Friday, March 18.
“Nationals is coming up quickly but we’re doing everything that we can to be as prepared as we can be,” Hintz said.
The team is perfecting their shooting skills and routines before nationals.
“Shooting is a game of routine, you have to get into a routine and stay in that,” Corbin said. “Anytime you deviate from your plan, it doesn’t take much and you can miss a target.”
