by Trey Perry
Mar 29, 2018
Courtesy | Doaneline
Doane’s shooting sports team is the reigning Division IV ACUI national champions.
Hungry for the title again, the team left Tuesday for the 2018 ACUI Collegiate Clay Targets Championships in San Antonio.
This is not the first year that sophomore Katie Peterson has made the trip to nationals. As a freshman last year, she was part of the 2017 National Championship team. She said that this year’s goal was to yet again bring home some hardware.
Head Coach Rick Marshall agreed with Peterson but said this past season was not without its problems. One of the teams top shooters last semester transferred to another school over winter break, leaving some big shoes to fill for the rest of the shooters.
Marshall said while that was a hit to the team, he is confident in the current squad to compete well at a national level.
Marshall took a total of nine shooters to the meet and said that competing as a team was a key to their success this year. While shooting sports are seen mostly as an individual sport, he said that the support from other teammates and the atmosphere a team creates is what makes it a team sport.
Marshall, who is a four-time world champion himself in shooting sports, said without support, the team would not have the accomplished what it has thus far.
Peterson said limiting distractions and staying confident would be the big factor for the team in San Antonio.
“We just need to keep our focus,” Peterson said. “If you miss one, just keep on shooting.”
According to the ACUI's website, shooters at the national meet have the chance to compete in more than one event. These include international shootout trap and skeet, sporting clays, super sporting clays, international wobble trap and American trap and skeet.
All schools competing at the national meet are split into different divisions depending the size of the school and the number of shooters the team brings to the national meet. There is also no qualifying standard that shooters have to hit in order to compete at nationals.
Marshall said teams were allowed to bring as many shooters as they would like, though he doesn’t exactly stick to that sort of mentality with Doane’s team, he said.
Marshall said he brought the shooters that he believed deserved to go. Those who have had success, worked hard and earned their spot.
Action at the national meet began on Tuesday and will carry on throughout Friday.