RESULTS: Full ACUI Championships Results | Concordia Only (PDF)
Awards:
· Devin Harris: All-American
· Kaylee Hinton: women’s open skeet national champion
· Katie Welker: women’s HOA doubles trap national champion; women’s open doubles trap national champion; women’s open doubles skeet third place; All-American
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The final day of the 2026 ACUI Collegiate Clay Target National Championships (March 17-21) oozed with tension and excitement as Katie Welker took aim at first-place medals in shoot-offs. Ultimately, Welker and fellow senior Kaylee Hinton both emerged with national titles to their credit. Hinton reigned supreme in women’s open skeet and Welker claimed the championship in women’s doubles trap. Their efforts helped lead Concordia University, Nebraska Shooting Sports to a team placement of seventh in the Division 2 breakdown of the national championships. Both Welker and Devin Harris were recognized as 2025-26 All-Americans.
The complete haul of awards for Welker included doubles trap national titles (HOA and open) and a women’s open doubles skeet third place medal, in addition to the All-America honor. In his All-America efforts, Harris (Kansas City, Mo.) improved his HOA national championships total from a year ago by 11 targets.
Head Coach Dylan Owens’ Bulldogs cracked 2,687 targets towards the team HOA (high over all) leaderboard. The national championships consist of six events: skeet, doubles skeet, trap, doubles trap, sporting clays and super sporting (with 100 targets in each). Action for Concordia took place over five days at the National Shooting Complex in San Antonio, Texas.
Said Owens, “Shoutout to Kaylee for winning the women’s open division in skeet. Great shooting by her. She really grinded it out to the end. As far as Katie, she lost her doubles skeet shoot-off earlier in the day and then had to sit around and wait. When she won doubles trap, there were tears and hugs all around. It was a really great thing to enjoy … Shoutout to the freshmen. They really started out strong this week and showed out. A lot of them were in our top five in several events. They really stepped it up this week.”
The individual event national titles were a fine capper to the careers of Hinton (Hiawatha, Kan.) and Welker (Hamill, S.D.). The 2025-26 season has been especially impressive for Welker, who has won three HOA invite championships as a senior. Welker positioned herself for Saturday shoot-offs in both doubles trap and skeet. Prior to the shoot-offs, Welker shot 96 in both events. While she came up short in doubles skeet, Welker edged William Penn University’s Morgan Hodge, 58-55, in the doubles trap shoot-off. Meanwhile, Hinton shot 98/100 in skeet on her way to claiming the open championship.
By discipline, Concordia turned in team scores of 483 in skeet, 455 in doubles skeet, 488 in trap, 459 in doubles trap, 370 in sporting clays and 432 in super sporting. Four Bulldogs busted 98 targets each in trap: graduate student Sam Blevins, Harris, Hinton, and freshman Brianna Helsene. Other team leaders by category were Hinton in skeet (98), Harris in doubles skeet (96), sporting clays (84) and super sporting (93) and Welker in doubles trap (96). Welker quickly bounced back in doubles trap after shooting below the norm in singles trap (92) by her high standards. Welker also pulled in medals in doubles skeet and open doubles trap.
Each of the 17 Bulldogs at the National Championships shot all six events. The team’s top 10 from an HOA standpoint were Harris (555), Welker (544), Jerry Kaibel (515), Hinton (509), Delayna Rife (502), Blevins (501), Clayton Gellerman (496), Colby Gaines (490), Faith Ritchie (488) and Jaggar Luetje (487). Only 11 women’s athletes in the entire national championships outgunned Welker’s 544. On the men’s side, Harris tied for 49th HOA out of nearly 600 total competitors in the field.
Day three provided separation in the team scoring. Concordia fell back in the standings after sporting clays. Said Owens, “The sporting course shot a lot tougher than I thought it would. A lot of teams were affected. It really hurt us in the high overall aspect of the event.” Owens also made mention of the team’s four 98s in trap and strong showings over the championship’s first two days. Added Owens, “It was a long week as always. All in all, I’m really proud of the team. They fought hard and never quit on themselves.”
Seventh is also where the Bulldogs placed at the 2024 and 2025 National Championships. Blevins (third place in men’s trap) and Welker (third place in women’s trap) came away with individual medals a year ago in San Antonio.
Select Bulldog athletes will compete in one more event. Concordia is scheduled to host the Concordia Bulldog International Tourney at Heartland Public Shooting Park in Grand Island, Neb., April 11-12. That shoot will officially polish off the 2025-26 season.