The 2023-24 Hillsdale Shotgun team. Courtesy | Hillsdale College Athletic Department

The shotgun team won first place overall at nationals for the Division Two Associate of Collegiate Unions International/Scholastic Clay Target Program March 18-23.

The team also won the Division Two national championship titles in Super Sporting, American Trap, Trap Doubles, and Skeet Doubles. The Chargers were the best in Super Sporting regardless of division, and 11 of their athletes were selected as All-Americans.

“We have won seven Division Three highest overall national championships and knew that moving into Division Two would be difficult, but Hillsdale’s motto prevails: strength rejoices in the challenge,” head coach Jordan Hintz said on Facebook.

This was the team’s first year competing in Division Two, after winning first in Division Three for seven years. The tournament took place at the National Shooting Complex in San Antonio, Texas. 

Hintz credited the team’s success to practicing sporting clays and a talented freshman class.

“We brought in a handful of very talented freshmen,” Hintz said in an interview. “So they were definitely the big drivers of our success down there. But also the rest of the team in general. I think that this is what we’ve always been working towards, and now we had a chance to do it.”

In women’s class AA skeet, freshman Madeline Corbin placed first, senior Ida Brown second, and freshman Ava Downs fifth.

In men’s class AA doubles skeet, sophomore Jordan Sapp took third, and junior Josh Corbin took tenth. In women’s class AA doubles skeet, Corbin took first and Brown took fifth.

“I didn’t shoot above average, but I don’t shoot below average,” sophomore Leif Andersen said. “So it ended up working out.”

In women’s class A trap, senior Jessica Strasser took first.

In men’s class AA doubles trap, senior William Stuart took second, and freshman Luke Johnson took seventh. In women’s class AA doubles trap, Corbin took first, Downs took eighth, and Brown took ninth.

“We shot well in all of the line games, so trap, trap doubles, skeet, and skeet doubles,” Hintz said. “Probably our best performance was in super sporting.”

In women’s class A sporting clays, Brown took third.

“It still came down to sporting clays this year, because we probably would have won by a higher margin if it weren’t for the sporting clays event,” Brown said.

Looking toward the next season, the shotgun team currently has two incoming freshman recruits. Marin McKinney of Missouri, and Taylor Dale of Wisconsin will be joining the team in the fall.

“We definitely left a lot of targets out there,” Hintz said. “So there’s still more that we can do or that we could have done. It’ll be really, really interesting to see next year how we’re able to keep moving forward, losing three very valuable members of the team.”