Shotgun Sports | 12/6/2021 1:15:00 PM
Article by Tina Goodwin
McPHERSON, KAN. – The McPherson College Shotgun Sports team competed in the USA College Clay Target League National Championship in November and earned three first-place and two second-place medals.
Earning first-place medals were
Lindzie Archer, junior varsity female;
Gabriel Boese, junior varsity male; and
Dryden Powell, novice male.
Riley Sojka, junior varsity male, and Cassandra Rust, novice female, received second-place medals.
Established in the fall of 2020, the McPherson College Shotgun Sports Team is the first varsity-level collegiate shotgun sports team offering athletic scholarships in the state. Since its inception, the team has doubled in size and now in its third season, is seeing success in competition.
"McPherson College thinks outside of the box and the Shotgun Sports team joins the list of other programs such as the Student Debt Project and Bulldog Adventures as proof that the school continues to set itself apart from other small colleges," Head Coach
Tony Helfrich said.
The co-ed team competes in both fall and spring seasons with six weeks in the fall and seven weeks in the spring.
"This is a special sport," Helfrich said, "it develops positive characteristics like leadership, critical thinking, ethics, and self-confidence. Additionally, it's one of the safest sports in the country, and it's a lot of fun. I'm so proud of the work these student-athletes have done to win awards just a year and a half in the league."
Looking ahead to the spring season, the team will host a sporting clays shoot and fundraiser to help raise money for a team trip to compete at the ACUI Clay Targets Collegiate National Championships at the National Shooting Complex near San Antonio, TX.
"Our goal is to win a national championship for McPherson College," Helfrich said. "The high school league is the fastest growing sport in Kansas with more than 100 teams. It's rewarding to be able to recruit and provide scholarships for student-athletes to continue enjoying the sport they love at the collegiate level, and one that I am so passionate about."
Follow the team @MCShotgunSports on Twitter/Instagram.
