{"id":45306,"date":"2019-04-22T07:54:36","date_gmt":"2019-04-22T12:54:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=45306"},"modified":"2019-04-22T07:54:41","modified_gmt":"2019-04-22T12:54:41","slug":"%ef%bb%bffhsu-shotgun-team-celebrates-pinnacle-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=45306","title":{"rendered":"\ufeffFHSU shotgun team celebrates pinnacle season"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Diane Gasper-O\u2019Brien
<\/strong> University Relations and Marketing
<\/em> HAYS, Kan. \u2013 The last time a Fort Hays State University team finished a season as undefeated national champions, Austin Svoboda was a toddler who hadn\u2019t yet celebrated his second birthday, and Riley Ross had not even been born.

That was 1996, when the Tiger men\u2019s basketball team completed a 34-0 season winning the NCAA Division II national championship.

It took 23 years, but an FHSU team recorded a similar feat this year.

Led by standout senior Svoboda and up-and-coming sophomore Ross, the shotgun team completed an undefeated season this school year, highlighted by national championships both semesters.

After winning the Scholarship Clay Target Program (SCTP) national title for the second time in three years last fall, Fort Hays State last month avenged its loss in last year\u2019s Association of College Unions International (ACUI) Clay Target Championships, where it finished second.

FHSU won six meets in the fall season and four this spring to finish 10-0 for the 2018-19 school year.

Claiming first place in four team events and second in two others, Fort Hays State beat runner-up Martin Methodist College out of Tennessee by 10 points at the ACUI season finale in San Antonio, Texas, last month. That was the same team that FHSU beat at the SCTP national meet in Marengo, Ohio, last November.

Those titles were in Division II \u2013 for schools with 10 to 20 competitors. The ACUI meet featured 884 total competitors from 91 schools in four divisions.

\u201cIt was definitely a goal to win (the ACUI) after finishing second last year,\u201d Svoboda said. \u201cWe wanted to come back and take this one, especially since we are graduating five people.\u201d

It was the fifth national team championship for Fort Hays State \u2013 to go along with five runner-up performances \u2013 since 2011.

\u201cThey knew they were capable of performing at a higher level last year,\u201d said Duane Shepherd, in his 14th year of coaching the shotgun team. \u201cThey entered this year with a mission in mind and went out and achieved it.\u201d

Svoboda has played an integral part of FHSU teams since 2012, and his swan song was one to remember. He claimed first place individually in two events and was a member of all four team event winners for Fort Hays State in claiming the individual high overall award.

Shepherd said that Svoboda\u2019s focus has always been on team first. But he admitted that \u201cit\u2019s \u00a0pretty hard to deny what he has accomplished as an individual.\u201d

\u201cHe is very talented individually,\u201d Shepherd said. \u201cHe has the competitive mental game where he can turn it on and turn it off.\u201d

Ross, who grew up near Svoboda \u2013 both are from Nebraska \u2013 said he has been watching, and trying to emulate, Svoboda for years.

\u201cI watched him all through high school, and he never ceases to amaze me what he can shoot,\u201d Ross said. \u201cWhenever you heard that Austin Svoboda was going to shoot, you always wanted to go watch.\u201d

Ross, who had been shooting since he was 4 years old, learned his junior year in high school that FHSU had a shotgun team. Finding out that Svoboda went there didn\u2019t hurt, either.

\u201cI went to a shoot here my junior year, and I found out they had a good ag major, so it was in the back of my mind from there on,\u201d Ross said. \u201cI knew then that this is where I was going to go.\u201d

Ross fit in with the shotgun team immediately, winning the high overall individual award at nationals as a freshman.

Last month, he was a member of three first-place teams and one runner-up team, grabbing All-America honors along with seniors Cody Escritt, Jake Whipple, Jerrod Lies and Josh Crankshaw.

Svoboda, in his sixth year at FHSU, was missing from that list only because competitors can only be named All-American four years, and he accomplished that feat two years ago.

Escritt, Whipple and Lies are three of the graduating seniors along with Svoboda, but Whipple will be back for another year while pursuing a graduate degree.

Whipple was a member of three first-place team events and one runner-up at nationals and will be counted on to help lead next year\u2019s team along with Ross.

Ross said he is up to the challenge.

\u201cAustin is just a great team leader, and I\u2019ve learned a lot from him,\u201d Ross said. \u201cHe \u00a0is irreplaceable. We will just need to step it up and carry on.\u201d

In addition to being named All-American, Escritt finished first in two individual events and recorded a perfect score of 100. Several of the seniors scored in the high 90s at nationals.

\u201cIt was rewarding to see those seniors to go out on such a high note,\u201d Shepherd said.

He pointed out several reasons the shotgun team is successful year after year, both in and out of the classroom.

\u201cI\u2019m proud of the fact that these kids are here of their own accord, because we don\u2019t have scholarships for our shotgun team,\u201d Shepherd said. \u201cThey come in with a commitment in mind \u2013 to be successful on the team and in academics. They are all pulling for a common goal, and they support each other well. They get their education and graduate.\u201d

Team members will tell you there are two more reasons for their success \u2013 Shepherd and his wife, Teresa.

\u201cIt wouldn\u2019t be a program without them,\u201d Ross said. \u201cDuane always says he\u2019s the bus driver, but he does so much more \u2013 and a lot behind the scenes. And Teresa is the team mom. She takes care of us so well.\u201d

Shepherd agreed that his wife adds to the program.

\u201cShe\u2019s an integral part of this group,\u201d he said. \u201cIn fact, she\u2019s the driving force. We complement each other well.\u201d

While the graduating seniors are looking ahead to their future, they feel the shotgun team will continue to excel without them.

\u201cRiley Ross is very talented,\u201d Svoboda said, \u201cand we have some people down the bench who can shoot good scores at about any time. It\u2019s their time to shine now.\u201d

Shepherd agreed.

\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt about it, we will miss these young people who are leaving the program. They put a lot of time into developing their skills,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we had a junior varsity this year, and they are ready to step up and start writing their chapter in this book.\u201d

Following are the names of students who competed at the ACUI nationals last month and the FHSU results.
AKRON, Colo. (80720):<\/strong> Jenny Schoenecker, senior
BURWELL, Neb. (68823):<\/strong> Austin Svoboda, senior
CAMBRIDGE, Neb. (69022):<\/strong> Jake Whipple, senior
COLBY(67701):<\/strong> Keegan Morgan, senior
Jay Ziegelmeier, senior
JANESVILLE, Wis. (53548):<\/strong> Luke Heinzen, junior
JEWELL (66949):<\/strong> Michael Saint, graduate student
MINNEOLA (67865):<\/strong> Jerrod Lies, senior
NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (69101):<\/strong> Josh Crankshaw, senior
PINE VALLEY, Calif. (92036):<\/strong> Heather Gordon, junior
PLEASANTON (66075):<\/strong> Hunter Secrest, sophomore
PLEASANTON, Neb. (68869):<\/strong> Cody Escritt, senior
ST. PAUL, Neb. (68873):<\/strong> Riley Ross, sophomore
TOPEKA (66610):<\/strong> Wyatt Pursell, junior
YODER \u00a0(67585):<\/strong> Cordell Waggoner, sophomore

FHSU results from ACUI nationals
Individual awards<\/strong>
\u2022 Svoboda \u2013 Individual HOA; first, men\u2019s trap; first, men\u2019s international trap; first, combined trap.
\u2022 Escritt \u2013 first, men\u2019s American all-around; first, trap and skeet for men\u2019s combined American;
\u2022 NRA All-Americans \u2013 Crankshaw, Escritt, Lies, Ross, Whipple.


Team awards<\/strong>
\u2022 HOA (highest overall) \u2013 first, Division II.
\u2022 American trap \u2013 first: Svoboda, Escritt, Whipple, Lies, Crankshaw (497 out out 500).
\u2022 International trap \u2013 first: Svoboda, Ross, Whipple (287 out of 300).
\u2022 Sporting clays \u2013 first: Svoboda, Escritt, Lies, Crankshaw, Ross (446 out 500).
\u2022 Super sporting \u2013 first: Svoboda, Ross, Escritt, Purcell, Hippie (478 out of 500).
\u2022 American skeet \u2013 second: Escritt, Saint, Whipple, Lies, Waggoner (487 out of 500).
\u2022 American all-around \u2013 first (trap, skeet, sporting clays and super sporting combined). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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