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ACUI NATIONALS
THE 2021 ACUI NATIONALS
MOUNT MARTY UNIVERSITY SHOTGUN TEAM
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The 2021 ACUI Collegiate Clay Targets Championships took place March 25-27, 2021 at the National Shooting Complex in San Antonio. A total of 562 competitors gathered, representing 49 schools throughout the country. American Trap, American Skeet, Sporting Clays, and Super Sporting were offered as part of the national competition this year, with American Trap, American Skeet, and Sporting Clays representing the high overall awards.
Despite facing a difficult school year and season, the competitors put forth solid performances, with many shooting personal bests. Nine teams in attendance were competing at an ACUI Nationals event for the very first time. Those teams represented the following institutions: Cowley College, Drury University, Eastern Oklahoma State College, Georgia Southern University, Northwest Kansas Technical College, Oklahoma Panhandle State University, Southern Arkansas University, University of Jamestown, and Western Oklahoma State College.
It was ultimately Texas A&M University that walked away with the biggest prize, winning the Division I High Overall and official title of the 2021 ACUI National Champions. The Texas A&M team took a narrow victory over Schreiner University with just eight targets and a total score of 1,414 out of 1,500. Martin Methodist College took first place in Division II with 1,397 targets. The Division III team was Hillsdale College with 1,350, and newcomers Georgia Southern University took first in Division IV with 1,359.
BY ALYSSA DREW
MEMBERS OF HILLSDALE COLLEGE SHOOTING TEAM ON SPORTING CLAYS STATION 2
ACUI offers four divisions at the national competition, which are broken down as follows:
n Division I – Teams with 21+ student athletes n Division II – Teams with 11-20 student athletes n Division III – Teams with 1-10 student athletes n Division IV – Junior college, community college, career college (technical or vocational) or any institution competing at nationals for the first time.
Garrett LeJeune, representing Schreiner University, won the Men’s High Overall with a total of 289 of 300 targets broken. Meagan Harrington, representing Texas A&M University, won the Women’s High Overall with a total of 276 targets broken. Both competitors received a $1,000 scholarship for their performance, which was provided at the generosity of the Higgins Branchini Shooting Foundation.
Women represented a total of 21% of competitors onsite this year, which is consistent with data from the 2019 competition. New teams represented 18% of teams onsite this year, which provides some glimpse as to the growth occurring in the collegiate shotgun sports world.
The 2021 competition was only a shadow of what it normally is, as changes to the program were made in light of the pandemic. The competition typically offers a total of six events, all of which are recognized as part of the high overall. In addition, a sporting clays fundraiser is offered, along with other games and raffles, throughout the course of a week. The 2020 ACUI Collegiate Clay Targets Championships was ultimately cancelled less than two weeks prior to the competition dates. At the time of cancellation, a record number of just over 1,000 competitors were registered. Although the 2021 entries were limited due to COVID and the ammo shortage, we hope to reach 1,000 competitors again in 2022. The 2022 ACUI Collegiate Clay Targets Championships will take place March 21-26, 2022 at the National Shooting Complex. Full results for the 2021 competition can be found at www.acui.org/claytargets n The ACUI Clay Targets program is a nonprofit, student-centered, campus-based community of student athletes, volunteer and paid coaches, range facilities, sponsors, friends, families, and ACUI staff. The program originated in 1968 and has been growing and evolving over the last 53 years.
