GLENN DALE — Washington’s trap and skeet team closed out its fall tournament season Nov. 1-3 at the ACUI/SCTP Upper East Coast Conference Championships. The competition included Navy, Army, Clemson, Clarkson, James Madison, Mount Aloysius, University of Maryland, University of Virginia and Virginia Tech.
The Shoremen shot a 450-target program; sub-events consisted of 50 doubles skeet, 50 doubles trap, 50 super sporting clays, 100 American skeet, 100 American trap and 100 sporting clays.
Each athlete was scored individually in sub-events and in high overall.
Team scores were a compilation of the top five scores in each sub-event and for team high overall.
Trice Moore of Worton, a 2024 graduate of Kent County High School, is a member of the Washington College team.
On Friday, Nov. 1, Washington began on the doubles skeet field and completed a clean sweep of all six individual medals.
In the ladies division, the locals were led by the 1-2-3 finish of senior Hartley Meyer (42 of 50 targets), senior Kate Opielski (40) and freshman Grace Heintzelman (32).
On the men’s side, freshman M.J. Rosenstiel broke 48 of 50 targets to place first, senior Hunter Clark was second and junior Chris Johnson was third. Clark (+8) defeated Johnson (+7) in a shoot-off after they tied for second, each with 46 targets.
Next up was doubles trap, where Heintzelman (37) took first and Opielski (35) finished third. Heintzelman won a 20-bird shoot-off, 15-11, to break a two-way tie for first.
Clark (44), Johnson (40) and junior Colin Krug (39) placed first, second and third, respectively.
There was a four-way tie for third. In the initial 20-bird shoot-off, teammates Krug and Rosenstiel each broke 17 targets to extend the event, while two University of Maryland competitors were eliminated. In the “miss-and-out” tiebreaker, Krug was the winner after the first pair.
At the conclusion of the first day, the Shore shooters had won 11 of the 12 individual medals. As a team, they placed first in doubles skeet (226 of 250) and doubles trap (200 of 250).
Washington began day two on the sporting clays course, where Meyer (70 of 100) and Opielski (69) placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in the field of 21. Meyer was just one target shy of reaching the podium.
The top place-finisher for WC’s men was Rosenstiel (82), sixth among 91 athletes; he was only five targets out of third.
In team scoring, Clemson (422 of 500), Virginia Tech (406) and Washington (385) placed first, second and third among nine schools.
The Shore athletes were back in top form in the afternoon in the American skeet event. Opeilski broke 97 of 100 targets, a personal best, to edge teammate Meyer (90) for first.
Rosenstiel was almost perfect among the men, taking top honors with 98 targets.
Johnson (92) and Moore (91) placed in the top five, helping Washington (468 of 500) to a runner-up finish among 10 teams.
On the final day of competition, Opielski and Heintzelman placed second and third, respectively, in super sporting clays. A two-way tie for second — after each hit 27 of 50 targets — was broken in a shoot-off.
For the men, Rosenstiel broke 43 targets to take first, followed by Clark (39). Clark took second after a shoot-off where he was 3+ over his opponent.
In closely contested team scoring, Washington (170 of 250) was third behind UVA (170) and Virginia Tech (171).
Rounding out the three-day competition was the trap event, where Rosenstiel broke 96 of 100 targets for another first-place medal.
The Shoremen’s top five included Clark (94), Johnson (93), Moore (87) and Krug (86).
Washington (456 of 500) placed third among 10 teams, trailing only Army (465) and champion Clemson (472).
After the results of all events were tabulated, Washington was high overall, breaking 1,901 out of a possible 2,250 targets — an improvement of 149 targets over last year.
Washington also boasted the individual high overall shooters, Opielski (349 of 450) and Rosenstiel (406); runners-up Meyer (346) and Clark (391); and third-place finishers Heintzelman (320) and Johnson (375).
NEXT: Washington will open its spring season Feb. 7-9 at Forest City Gun Club in Savannah, Georgia for the ACUI/SCTP Lower East Coast Conference Championships.
