Trap & Skeet 11/2/2026 10:31:00 AM

Trap & Skeet Takes First Overall At Upper East Coast Regionals

Glenn Dale, MD - The Washington College Trap & Skeet Team (WCTS) closed out the fall season at the ACUI/SCTP Upper East Coast Conference Championships held at Prince George's County Trap and Skeet Center (PGTS) October 30 through November 1. This tournament is not only for awards but also to determine an athlete's classification for the ACUI/SCTP National Championships held in San Antonio, TX in March.

WCTS athletes competed in 6 separate clay target disciplines including Doubles Trap, Doubles Skeet, Super Sporting, American Trap, American Skeet, and Sporting Clays. The doubles and Super Sporting events consisted of 50 targets each while the American Trap, American Skeet and Sporting Clays events were 100 targets each. Schools who had 5 athletes participate in all 6 events competed for individual awards and High Overall (HOA) awards while schools who shot 5 or fewer events competed for Classic All Around (CAA) awards. Athletes and schools who compete in all 6 events are not eligible for CAA awards.

On Friday WCTS athletes opened the event at PGTS with clear skies but faced swirling winds that increased in speed over the course of the day. The first event of the day was doubles skeet where WCTS athletes made a strong showing led by Ethan Kimmins '30 who took 1st place with 48/50 broken. Captain Trice Moore '28 placed 2nd with 45/50. After a 4 post shootoff with Nebraska's Chase Brei, Max McNulty Van Oordt '27, who crushed 43/50, ended just off the podium in 4th place. Cole Coppage '30 and Gracie Heintzelman '27 broke 42 and 40 respectively to round out the top 5 scores for the event. WCTS broke 218/250 a 6 target increase over their 2025 performance. While ACUI does not award team places for conference events, WCTS ranked 1st for the event.

After a quick turn around the wind continued to increase as WCTS took to the doubles trap field for event 2. The targets began "dancing" in the wind but the team was able to again put up a strong performance and claimed another team 1st breaking 200/250. Heintzelman posted the top score for the team, breaking 43/50 and adding a Ladies 1st palace award to her haul. Adding to the team effort was the freshman duo of Coppage (42/50) and Kimmins (41/50). Coppage's efforts gained him the 3rd place men's podium. T. Moore contributed 38/50 to the effort, while Eric Grant '30 posted the 5th score of (36/50). After the completion of this event WCTS returned to Chestertown for the night and prepared for the following day's events.

WCTS returned for day 2 which was cooler but had far less wind for the team to contend with. Event 3 was Sporting Clays, WCTS took to the woods where the red and orange leaves made target acquisition difficult to say the least. Kimmins was high gun for the team with 83/100 followed closely by T. Moore who crushed 80/100 and Jeffrey Paes '29 (79/100). Heintzelman (78/100) found herself in a shootoff with Nebraska's Ava Schmutte but won it easily going 6 for 6 while Schmutte only managed 4/6. The fifth team score came from Coppage who broke 73/100. As a team WCTS posted a 393/500 finishing 3rd being event winner Virginia Tech (419/500) and USMA West Point (397/500).

After a team tailgate filled with family, friends, and alumni, WCTS took some time to implement a mental reset with dry gun work to prepare for Event 4 American Skeet. The team came out strong with great eye work and strong turns and when the dust settled had claimed another team 1st, breaking 477 and for the first time ever at this event besting USMA West Point (467/500) in the skeet event. The team scores included Kimmins (97/100) and Coppage (96/100) who found themselves 2nd and 3rd behind USMA Judge Dallas's 98. McNulty and T. Moore both added 95s to the effort while Paes broke a solid 94/100. While Heintzelman's 92/100 didn't count for team score she did find herself back on the podium claiming the Ladies 2nd place medal.

Sunday saw another clear and crisp morning with WCTS athletes beginning Event 5 - Super Sporting. Emory Moore '30, a walkon freshman, made his presence known crushing 44/50 winning the entire event and leading in team score. He was supported by Coppage and Grant who both broke 43/50 and found themselves in a 3-way shootoff with James Madison's Addison Thomas. Grant was knocked out after the first cage, while Coppage and Thomas moved to cage 2. In the end Coppage prevailed and took the 2nd place podium spot. Paes (41/50) and Kimmins (40/50) put up the last two scores for WCTS which sealed the fourth 1st place event finish with 211/250 a 43 target improvement over the 2025 team score.

Event 6 saw WCTS take to the trap fields where the competition was at its highest all weekend. Leading the team was Coppage breaking 95/100 followed closely by Kimmins posting a 93/100. T. Moore broke 85/100 while Heintzelman had an 84/100. The final score for WCTS came from Grant grinding his way to an 83/100. WCTS team score was 440/500 which put them in 4th place 23 targets behind USMA West Point.

After the last shots were fired WCTS athletes were well represented on the HOA podium with Kimmins claiming 1st breaking 402/450 targets. Coppage joined him taking 3rd with a 391/450. On the Ladies podium Heintzelman took 2nd place breaking 370/450 only 11 targets off 1st place. While WCTS was not eligible for CAA the team would have finished 2nd out of 9 schools and only 17 targets behind West Point. Since WCTS competed in all 6 events they were crowned the HOA team for the event breaking a total of 1939/2250 for the weekend and beating 2nd place University of Maryland by a commanding 433 targets. University of Nebraska finished with 1544 but since they only had 4 athletes were ineligible for receive the team HOA.

After the event Head Coach Doug Pfaff '10 said, "To win a 5th consecutive Conference Championship HOA in 5 years is surreal and I could not be more proud of the team and what they accomplished this weekend. They are all very good shooters so in addition to fine tuning mechanics we have really been focused on mental training this semester. Seeing the team really focused on running their process this weekend couldn't have made me happier!"

Washington College Trap and Skeet would like to thank all of our family, friends, supporters, and alumni who joined us at the range this weekend. We would also like to thank Chen, Pablo, and all of the PGTS staff for hosting us this weekend and providing excellent service and targets. Lastly this event wouldn't be possible without the ACUI/SCTP staff that put on events all across the country. Many thanks to Christian and Darrin for being onsite and running an excellent event.

Up Next
Washington College Trap & Skeet will resume competition in the spring semester in Savannah, GA at the Lower East Coast Conference Championships.

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Players Mentioned

Gracie Heintzelman: 5' 4"; Senior

Max McNulty Van Oordt: 6' 1"; Senior

Trice Moore: 6' 0"; Junior

Jeffrey Paes: 5' 7"; Sophomore

Eric Grant: 5' 6"; Freshman

Cole Coppage: 5' 8"; Freshman

Ethan Kimmins: Freshman

Emory Moore: 6' 4"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

Gracie Heintzelman
: 5' 4"; Senior

Max McNulty Van Oordt
: 6' 1"; Senior

Trice Moore
: 6' 0"; Junior

Jeffrey Paes
: 5' 7"; Sophomore

Eric Grant
: 5' 6"; Freshman

Cole Coppage
: 5' 8"; Freshman

Ethan Kimmins
: Freshman

Emory Moore
: 6' 4"; Freshman