SIC Shotgun Team Wins Regional Championship
“It never grows old,” said Bruce Hering, shotgun coach for Southeastern Illinois College, after capturing yet another Division II title.
The college’s shotgun team continued its winning ways by taking home first place in both the sporting clays and trap events and a second place in American skeet at the 2012 Scholastic Clay Target Program’s (SCTP) Southeast Regional Championship held November 2-4 in Nashville, Tenn. At the end of three days of intense competition, the team’s high overall average (HOA) was good enough to earn them the regional championship trophy.
Earlier this year, the college’s shotgun team won the Association of College Unions International (ACUI) National Division II Intercollegiate Clay Target Championship in San Antonio, Tex.
Following the team’s recent win, Hering had nothing but praise for his shooters. “I can’t say enough about this group of young men. They have proven time and time again that they are champions and can overcome high levels of adversity to win.” The Falcon shotgun team members that participated in the regional tournament are Matt Perkins, Harrisburg; Cory Stamper, Scott County, Ky. ; Ethan Hastie, Elizabethtown; Preston Crandall, Paris, Ill.; Jesse Patterson, Greenbrier, Ga.; Ben Wallace, Harrisburg; and Austin LeBaron, Harrisburg.
Stamper, LeBaron, Crandall, Perkins, and Patterson won the sporting clays event the first day of competition with a team score of 386, beating second place Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia by 23 targets.
The American skeet round, shot on Saturday, was won by Purdue University, posting a team score of 459 compared to Southeastern’s 447.
Sunday’s trap scores were down for most teams because of windy conditions. However, SIC shooters Patterson, Wallace, Stamper, Perkins, and Hastie managed to post a 465, seventeen targets ahead of Middle Tennessee State University’s 448, to take first place.
In the individual HOA, Patterson and Perkins both scored 264/300, which put them tied for 13th place out of the 139 male competitors shooting in all three events. The tournament had some 195 registered shooters overall.
Hering stated that his team prepared for the regional championship by entering a number of shooters in the National Sporting Clays Association’s national championship held last month in San Antonio.
Patterson placed third out of 162 shooters in C Class in the main event. Only three targets separated first and third places. Patterson is the reigning C Class Junior National Champion.
Jessica Farthing of Pinckneyville, shooting C Class women’s division, placed eighth in the main event.
Southeastern’s Michael Falco of Colleyville, Tex. placed second out of 102 shooters in 28 gauge competition and also took the 28 gauge Junior National Champion title. He also placed fourth in AA Class in the Krieghoff Cup event.
Southeastern’s top teams in shotgun and 3D archery compliment outdoor programs in game management, shooting complex management, and outdoor recreation (available in 2013). Registration for the spring semester is underway. For more information, visit the school’s website at www.sic.edu.
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