Sophomore Sophia Bultema finishes shooting at the Charger Classic. Courtesy | Hillsdale College Athletic Department
The Hillsdale shotgun team earned first place in back-to-back national championships this past week at the Cardinal Center in Marengo, Ohio.
The Chargers competed in the ACUI/SCTP International National Championship and the ACUI/SCTP Upper Midwest Conference Championships Oct. 4-8. The events hosted 13 collegiate teams from across the country.
“The opportunities we have here are pretty amazing,” junior Josh Corbin said. “And obviously unmatched compared to other schools. The Halter Center is an amazing facility to be able to train and compete at, and a lot of other schools don’t have the funding. We’re just very fortunate to have access to everything that we do. We all shoot all disciplines, so we don’t have specialized shooters, everybody shoots everything.”
The Chargers earned 363/375 overall points in the world-level event, placing them in first by 88 targets ahead of University of the Ozarks. Sophomore Jordan Sapp led the team with 123/125, followed by junior Kyle Fleck with 122/125. Sophomore Davis Hay finished the squad with a score of 118/125. Sapp won the men’s individual national championship, with Fleck taking silver and Hay bronze, making the top three tournament scores all earned by Hillsdale athletes.
Within the women’s division, freshman Madeline Corbin placed first with a score of 116/125, winning the women’s individual national championship title. At 94 targets each, freshman Ava Downs and senior Ida Brown tied for silver. Following a shoot off, they placed second and third.
“My favorite memory of the trip would have to be before Ava and Madeline’s shoot off for skeet,” sophomore Leif Andersen said. “We played some pickup football with the team on the skeet fields. It gets really competitive when we play. If Kyle were in Fantasy Football he would have put up at least 45 points in our game.”
Despite the flu breaking out during their first roadtrip tournament of the season, the team powered through.
“It’s a lot of powering through,” Brown said. “I was not the only one who was sick on that trip. I want to say like half the team had something going on half the time, from head colds to what could have been not-so-great versions of the flu.”
Due to a broken machine, international trap was shortened from 125 to 100 targets. Once again, the Chargers took first ahead of the University of the Ozarks by 33 targets. Senior Jackson Sokel took first, with Josh Corbin taking second after a shoot off broke their tie. Brown followed in third. Brown was awarded back-to-back women’s individual national champion, with second place going to Downs.
“It was fun to go on our first big overnight trip with the team,” Brown said. “We were gone for a full five days, which is a lot of time to spend together, but we handled it very well. So overall, it was a great match.”
In the ACUI/SCTP Upper Midwest Conference Championships, the Chargers placed first overall with 2096/2250 targets broken. Sophomore Leif Andersen placed second highest men’s overall with a score of 411/450. Brown earned first highest women’s overall at 417/450, with Downs and Madeline Corbin following with second and third, respectively.
“I think we’re doing about as best as we can for our ultimate goal and the rest of the semester, at least,” head coach Jordan Hintz said. “I don’t see any reason why it won’t continue to be a big success. If we continue to shoot like we did this week, then we’ll be in really good shape.”
The Chargers will compete in their next match in Sparta, Illinois, Oct. 13-15 at the ACUI/SCTP Sparta Regional Tournament.
