Hillsdale College shotgun team brings home national title
HILLSDALE — The Hillsdale College shotgun team is no stranger to winning titles. In its history, the team has brought home Division 3 collegiate national championships seven times, including five consecutively.
Last month, the 16-person team brought home their first-ever Division 2 national championship title at the Association of College Unions International and Scholastic Clay Target Program National Championship in San Antonio, Texas.
With the John Anthony Halter Shooting Sports Education Center at their disposal, the team has developed athletes that are all-around shooters. Now that the team is competing in Division 2, they have to rely on their multiskilled athletes to give them an advantage.
“Division 2 limits competition team size to 20 student-athletes, but some teams have much larger rosters and bring only their top shooters to compete. Since we’re smaller, all of our athletes have to be all-around shooters. We proved that we have some of the most complete competitors in the nation,” head coach Jordan Hintz said in a news release.
The team competed against 19 other programs, earning multiple individual and team awards.
“The team had a truly dominant performance, arguably the best in our history,” Hintz said. “Our shooters have worked hard all season, and it has paid off.”
During the championships, the team took home several other awards in Division II:
First Place Super Sporting Team.
First Place American Trap Team.
First Place Trap Doubles Team.
First Place Skeet Doubles Team.
Third Place American Skeet Team.
11 athletes selected as All-Americans (across all divisions).
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The future is bright for the Chargers, having already had one student named to the USA Paralympic Team and four to the USA Junior Olympic Team.
“Hillsdale is becoming a training ground for some of the best shooters in the country. In the coming years, we might see these young men and women become some of the best in the world,” said Hintz.
— Joseph Flaherty is the sports editor for the Hillsdale Daily News. He can be reached by email at jflaherty@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: Hillsdale College shotgun team wins national title
