Shotgun team fourth in Division III at ACUI Clay Target Championships in Texas

Sunday, March 15

San Antonio, Texas

Liberty University Club Sports

ACUI Collegiate Clay Target Championships

Shotgun team at ACUI National Championships in San Antonio

The nine Flames and one Lady Flames shooter, senior Lilly Cooper, (fifth from left) posted strong showings at last week's ACUI Collegiate Clay Target Championships in San Antonio.

Shotgun team fourth in Division III at ACUI Clay Target Championships in Texas

3/27/2026 10:23:00 PM | Shotgun

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The Flames and Lady Flames finished first in both the Sporting Clays and Super Sporting Clays divisions, getting contributions from all 10 participants.

Liberty University's shotgun team finished fourth out of 33 Division III teams at the March 15-21 ACUI Collegiate Clay Target Championships at the National Shooting Complex in San Antonio, narrowly missing the podium in the High Overall Team competition.

"We did very well to finish fourth," Head Coach Jacob Davis said. "Our scores were really high across the board, meeting or exceeding expectations. This was the first year that all 10 of our team members contributed, with everyone putting up at least one score in one event that contributed to the team score."

Nine men's shooters and one woman comprised the travel team that combined to finish first in the Sporting Clays discipline with 428 out of a possible 500 points and the Super Sporting Clays category with 463.

Liberty totaled 2,735 points out of 3,000 targets to finish behind only Drury (Mo.) University, which captured its second national title in three years with 2,772 points, the University of Tennessee Southern (2,769), and Bethel (Tenn.) University (2,743).

"We only missed third place by eight points, so it was very close," Davis said, noting Bethel joined Division III last year after previously competing as a Division I program and UT Southern was added this year after dropping down from Division II.

All 10 of Liberty's shooters competed in all six disciplines, led by freshman Gavin Glossner, who finished tied for first in the Sporting Clays (94 out of 100) and second in the Super Sporting Clays (98) event before winning tie-breaking shoot-offs for both. Glossner captured the combined Sporting Clays and Super Sporting Clays individual championship outright and placed a team-best 88th out of 737 contestants in the individual High Overall Award standings by hitting 550 out of a possible 600 targets.

"Gavin was the standout," Davis said. "He's a freshman, and he definitely exceeded his own expectations. We had five seniors at nationals, and they all shot well all year long."

Senior Dalton Krossman placed second among the Flames in Sporting Clays by hitting 90 out of 100 targets and sophomore Mattox Purdham placed second in the Super Sporting Clays with 95 points, followed by senior captain Matthew Daniels (92).

Liberty also finished fourth as a team in American Skeet with 482 points — paced by Purdham's round of 99 points, followed closely by Krossman (97), senior Ezra Jackson (96), Daniels and Glossner, who both hit 95 out of 100 targets — and sixth in Doubles American Trap (448 points) led by senior Mark Yoder (94) and Krossman (93).

Sophomore Garrett Byers (92 points) and Daniels (91) shot the team's high scores in leading it to a 13th place showing in Doubles Skeet (442 points). Byers placed third overall after losing a second-place shoot-off. The Flames and Lady Flames had their deepest, most balanced showing in American Trap, placing 16th with a 472-point total on the strength of Jackson (98 points), Glossner and Krossman (both hitting 94 targets), and Byers, senior Lillian Cooper, Daniels, and Yoder (93 points each).

Complete scores, broken down by classifications and divisions, are available online.

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer

Gallery: (3-27-2026) Shotgun team at ACUI Nationals