Shotgun team travels to South Carolina to warm up for this weekend’s first ACUI event in Ohio

Expanding its horizons to new regions, Liberty University's shotgun team will travel to compete in this weekend's ACUI Upper Midwest Conference Championships held at Cardinal Shooting Center in Marengo, Ohio, before returning for the third year in a row to the ACUI Lower East Coast Conference event in Savannah, Ga., in early February.

"This will be the first time we have participated in this event, and it gives us a second opportunity to have a high-level competition before the ACUI National (Championships in San Antonio)," Flames Head Coach Jacob Davis said, noting the team has already qualified for nationals based on its podium finish last spring. "This is a very strong region, so it will be interesting to see how we do against all the teams, but the Division III teams in particular."

The competition will open with Doubles Skeet and Super Sporting Clays on Friday before shifting to American Skeet and Sporting Clays on Saturday and concluding with American Trap and Doubles Trap events on Sunday.

Davis plans to travel with 15 of his 18 team members to Ohio and noted the shooters have been practicing three or four times per week since the start of the semester, with each team member shooting 75-100 times per practice.

This year's team captains are senior Matt Daniels and graduate Dalton Krossman, who are complemented by seniors Lilly Cooper and Nate Hagy, sophomore Ryan Doyle, and freshman recruit Gavin Glossner.

"We have more seniors this year than anything," Davis said, commenting on the maturity of the team. "Realistically speaking, all 15 of our team members have the capability to contribute to the team scores," with top-five totals in each discipline. "I expect them to do quite well, continuing the type of success of the past two to four years."

Realizing the need to hit the recruiting trail earlier this year with so many team members expected to graduate in May, Davis took his team to the NWTF Shooting Complex in Edgefield, S.C., this past weekend for a Collegiate Meet & Greet and Shoot.

"The event this weekend dual purposed," Davis said. "Technically speaking, it was a competition, but the main point was not to compete, but to give potential high school recruits an opportunity to shoot with and interact with collegiate team members. That is a very centrally located area for the Southeast region of the country. There are some good shooting programs down there, and we engaged with several potential college recruits."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer

Shotgun team travels to South Carolina to warm up for this weekend’s first ACUI event in Ohio

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Players Mentioned

Ryan Doyle

Gavin Glossner

Dalton Krossman