SAN ANGELO, Texas — Angelo State University’s Rams Clay Target Team won a national championship in sporting clays and finished as overall national runner-up at the Association of College Unions International 2021 Collegiate Clay Target Championships in San Antonio.
Competing in Division 2 against 11 other teams, the Rams team took first place in the sporting clays team competition to be named the 2021 Sporting Clays Division 2 national champion.
In the high overall standings, ASU scored 1,388 total points in the various team competitions to finish second behind to the team from Martin Methodist College (Tennessee) that scored 1,397 points.
ASU’s final standings in the various team competitions:
- First place – Sporting Clays Team
- Third place – American Skeet Team
- Seventh place – American Trap Team
- Third place – Super Sporting Team (not included in high overall standings)
Each team’s divisional designation was determined by how many competitors attended the event, not by any NCAA division classification. Nineteen students represented the Rams team, putting it in Division 2 (11-20 competitors) for the first time. ASU was also the overall national runner-up in 2019 in Division 3 (5-10 competitors).
Individually for the Rams, Jett Thompson of San Angelo (seventh) and Jonah Finley of West Monroe, La., (10th) finished in the top 10 out of more than 430 shooters in the overall standings. Finley also finished second in the men’s sporting clays competition out of 141 shooters, and Thompson took sixth in the men’s super sporting competition out of 127 shooters.
On the women’s side for ASU, Taylor Cleaveland of Schertz finished 10th and Chailey Wilchek of Mont Belvieu finished 16th out of 112 shooters in the overall standings. Allyn Willis of Dallas finished second in the women’s super sporting competition, with Cleaveland taking fourth place out of 36 shooters. Cleaveland also finished third in the women’s sporting clays standings, with Willis taking ninth and Wilchek finishing 12th out of 38 shooters.
Also competing for the Rams Clay Target Team at the national championships were:
- Hunter Barnes of Merkel
- Nick Billington of Mertzon
- Kyle Bristow of El Paso
- Patrick Bullock of Allen
- Avery Burrage of Magnolia
- Will Jones of Dallas
- Hunter Jordan of Brookshire
- Kaden Kennedy of Stanton
- Hunter McDonald of Loving
- Hunter Miller of Poteet
- Monte Rankin of Conroe
- Alexis (Lexi) Wickham of San Angelo
- Braden Williams of Christoval
- Pierce Wilson of Abilene
The faculty/staff sponsor of the team is Kurtis Neal, ASU director of human resources.
To support the Rams Clay Target Team, ASU is hosting the fourth annual Rams Reload Sporting Clay Shoot Saturday, May 8, at the San Angelo Claybird Association range. More details on registering to participate and/or sponsor the event are available at angelo.edu/ramsreload.
