The Hillsdale College shotgun team placed first in skeet and second in trap at Lindenwood University’s Invitational in St. Charles, MO, beating the host team that has over 100 members.
“Everybody shot really well in skeet. Our final team score for the event was 495 out of 500,” Head Coach Jordan Hintz said. “That’s the kind of score that we have been shooting, which is a score worthy of a national championship.”
According to senior Anthony LaMacchia, the team tied for second in trap with another team, earning a team score of 483 out of 500.
“Unfortunately we are still waiting on the final results for sporting clays because there was an error in the scores,” Hintz said.
“I think that we will likely end up in second overall,” Hintz said.
According to Hintz, the shoot ran into the night so the team had to shoot in the dark. Shooting started at 8 am that day but all the events got an hour behind.
“The shoot ran way too long. We were delayed, shooting into the evening and at night which is quite a bit more challenging,” Hintz said. “Everybody on the team was tired, hungry, cold and worn down but they stayed in the game and gave all their effort.”
According to freshman Josh Corbin, the team shot against 11 schools, with around 240 people at the shoot.
Hillsdale was the only team at the shoot from a more distant area.
“A mix of schools from Missouri, Nebraska, and Iowa. We were the only team from outside of that area,” Hintz said. “It was a good shoot as a warm-up for our trip down to San Antonio for Nationals.”
According to LaMacchia, the first day of the invitational was at a club in St. Lucia, MO for trap and skeet. The second day was at a club in Illinois for sporting clays.
“We were competing directly against teams that would often be competing in much harder divisions than us,” LaMacchia said. “We’re a Division II team but there were Division I schools there. The school that hosted the invitational, Lindenwood University, is a big Division I school. Their overall team number is over 100, so we took 12 people and beat them.”
According to LaMacchia, the Lindenwood Invitational was not part of the leagues that the team competes in.
“On the second day, we were shooting in Illinois at the farm of one of the founders of the Winchester Ammunition Company,” LaMacchia said. “It was this 600 acre property with a beautiful course laid out on great terrain with ponds and a bunch of fun stuff to shoot.”
According to LaMacchia, even though the team is moving up to Division II this year, they plan on being successful.
“As indicated by this weekend, our scores are comparable with big Division I schools that can take 100 people in comparison to our little team of 12 people,” LaMacchia said. “We can put up a fight with the best of them.”
