SAN ANTONIO, Texas - The Southwestern sports shooting team finished seventh in Division 4 at the ACUI Clay Target National Championships held March 25-30.

Eight shooters competed for the Spartans, highlighted by Courtney Nielsen's 11th-place finish in the women's open class in American trap. Nielsen finished with a score of 96 out of 100, hitting the last 77 birds in a row during the competition.

The Spartan team of Nielsen (96), Blake Binns (95), Sydney McElfish (90), Makenna Lilly (90) and Devn Meek (86) placed fifth in the American trap competition. Binns' score of 95 was good enough for 26th place in Class A, while Meek's score of 84 was 12th in Class C.

Southwestern also finished fifth in International trap with the team of Binns (82), Lilly (74), Jessica Aupperle (72), McElfish (72) and Nielsen (70). Aupperle was 50th in the women's open class and Binns finished 46th in Class A.

The team of Binns (90), Lilly (87), McElfish (80), Nielsen (73) and Dalton Smith (71) finished 10th in American skeet. In International skeet, Southwestern finished seventh with the team of Binns (73), McElfish (55), Meek (54), Lilly (47) and Nielsen (43).

The Spartans took ninth in Super Sporting Clays with the team of Binns (83), McElfish (73), Nielsen (72), Mascher (70) and Meeks (62), while the team of Binns (65), Nielsen (64), McElfish (59), Mascher (56) and Lilly (54) took 10th in Sporting Clays.

"We ended up doing about as I expected," Southwestern Head Sports Shooting Coach Marc Roberg said. "Not quite as good as I hoped in American skeet, but better than I expected in International trap due to its difficulty. As you can see by the team scores, everyone contributed in one of the events. That is what I like to see. All in all, a great trip."

More than 90 schools competed in the national competition, totaling more than 900 competitors, broken up into four divisions. All shooters are classed and individual class placings are against all shooters in that class regardless of what division the shooter's team is in.

The Spartans return to action Saturday, April 6, at home against Iowa Central.