Chase Stewart | Staff Reporter
Posted April 9, 2014; 10:00 a.m.

The Lindenwood Lions shotgun sports team traveled to San Antonio, Texas on March 30 to compete in the 46th Annual ACUI Clay Target Championships and came away with their 11^th consecutive national championship.

The Lions put together one of the program’s best total scores in history at the championship event, connecting on 2,278 targets out of a possible 2,350. The 2,278 targets hit were good enough to give the Lions a victory margin of 58 targets over the runner-up Bethel University.

“Winning an eleventh consecutive national championship is surreal, really. It’s almost become an expectancy, but every year I still get butterflies,” said Ben DeHart.

For the first time since their 2011 national championship victory, the Lions swept all six of the major team competitions at the event. The Lions tallied 21 individual medals, eight of which were individual championships.

One of the most successful competitors for Lindenwood in the competition was senior Sarah Hughes, who won the ladies high overall competition as well as the five-stand competition. She also placed in the top five overall in the international trap event, the sporting clays, and the international skeet.

Another highly successful competitor on the female side included Morgan Craft, who emerged victorious in the combined skeet event with an overall score of 191, and took part in the winning international skeet team event, along with Nick Boerboon and Kyle Johnson.

On the men’s side, the top individual competitor was Ryan Feig, who earned the top overall score in the competition for the American trap event, and was a top scorer for Lindenwood during the five-man stand event, successfully shooting 46 of his 50 targets.