"Like I said at the event itself, I don't know whether to hug them or cry," said the team's coach, Bruce Hering. "Team wise, our performance was outstanding."

               Team scoring consisted of totals from American Skeet and American Trap, and International Skeet and International Trap. SIC's total score of 1441 edged out Colorado State's 1339 for third place. Lindenwood University took the title with a score of 1562, and the University of Missouri was second with 1495.

               Hering said that last year's experience, with a fledgling team learning the ropes, was an eye-opener, in letting the team know exactly what caliber of competition existed on the national level. And his team more than stepped up to the plate to put in the work.

               "Like any other sport, there's an enormous amount of practice time involved," Hering said. "It's as much eye-hand coordination training as basketball or baseball."

               The team put in long hours of preparation at several different sites. Normally, they practiced on campus on Mondays, at the Harrisburg Hunters' Club on Tuesdays, and traveled to Rend Lake and the shooting complex in Sparta for additional experience.

               The SIC squad finished with top-half finishes in all of their events, including:

               American Skeet - With a score of 475/500, the team finished in second place out of 26 teams. SIC's scorers for this event included Brad Cearlock, Mack Wayne Davis, Andrew Jackson, Ian Hurd and Alex Holtzmier.

               American Trap - SIC's group of Cearlock, Davis, Hurd, Nick Arnold and Andrew Ludwig finished fourth of 27 teams in this event. Davis shot an initial perfect round of 100 straight, and ended up the national runner-up after a five-man shoot-off. Davis won the overall Men's Combined American Events title.

               Also in this event, team members Cassie Roberts and Kylah Sellin tied for 10^th place among female competitors with 92 of 100 birds.

               "Those were outstanding scores," Herrin said. "American Trap is an event that's always won or lost by one or two birds. A score of 92 is terrific."

               The trio of Cearlock, Davis and Arnold finishied fifth in International Skeet out of 29 teams, and 11^th in International Trap, out of 31 teams.

               Also in International Trap, Sellin placed 11^th, and Roberts 15^th, out of 45 female shooters.

               The Five-Stand team of Cearlock, Davis, Hurd, Jackson and Matt Garver finished third of 21 teams. Roberts was 9^th, and Sellin 12^th, out of 32 female shooters in this category.

               The Five-Stand competition had an added element in a made-for-TV event that will be broadcast in June on ESPN. A shootout was held featuring the top 16 shooters from the regular five-stand event, bracketed against each other.

               SIC's Davis emerged as the champion of the event by defeating Travis Mears of Lindenwood. Cearlock took third after defeating Lindenwood's Matt Hughes - who had won the initial five-stand event. So, in an event featuring two SIC shooters, along with two from Missouri and Colorado State, one from Tennessee-Martin and nine from Lindenwood, the two SIC competitors ended up in the top three - indicative of the way those two stepped up throughout the competition.

               "Mack Wayne shouldered an enormous amount of weight for us throughout this competition, and Brad - who is our team captain - certainly did also."

               While watching that event, Hering found himself in a golf cart with Mears' father. When the event ended, Hering said that the elder Mears shook his hand and said, "That's probably the best thing that could have ever happened for your program here."

               Sam Leatherman took second place in the D-Class sporting clays event. The team of Davis, Cearlock and Ludwig finished second in sporting clays. Davis took fourth individually, Cearlock fifth, and Ludwig 12^th. Sellin and Roberts also had very impressive finishes in the event, tying for third place in women's competition.

               In overall women's standings, Sellin finished 13^th, and Roberts 16^th. Davis ended up 15^th in overall men's events, and Arnold finished 20^th.