2026 ACUI National Championships webpage
SEWARD, Neb. – A group of 17 Bulldogs will represent Concordia University, Nebraska Shooting Sports at the 2026 ACUI Collegiate Clay Target National Championships. The 2026 national championship event will run March 16-21 and will be held at the National Shooting Complex in San Antonio, Texas. Competition for the Bulldogs will begin on March 17. The event features 100 targets each in American Skeet, American Trap, Sporting Clays, Doubles American Skeet, Doubles American Trap and Super Sporting.
The ACUI Clay Targets program was established in 1968 and is the oldest collegiate shotgun sports program. The ACUI Clay Targets program is a nonprofit, student-centered, campus-based community of student-athletes, volunteer and paid coaches, range facilities, sponsors, friends, families and ACUI staff.
2026 ACUI National Championships Schedule – Concordia:
· Tuesday, March 17
o 8 a.m. – American Skeet
o 2 p.m. – Doubles America Skeet
· Wednesday, March 18
o 12 p.m. – American Trap
o 1 p.m. – Doubles American Trap
· Thursday, March 19
o 10:30 a.m. – Sporting Clays
· Friday, March 20
o 10:30 a.m. – Super Sporting
· Saturday, March 21
o 9 a.m. – Shoot-offs and Awards
Eleven of the 17 Bulldogs headed to San Antonio also competed at the 2025 ACUI Championships. At the ’25 event, Concordia placed seventh out of 14 teams in the Division 2 breakdown. Individually, Sam Blevins placed third in trap on the men’s side and Katie Welker placed third in trap on the women’s side. The high overall (HOA) team total for the Bulldogs came in at 2,740. The top three finishers in Division 2 were William Penn University (2,840), Fort Hays State University (2,836) and Hillsdale College (2,822). Concordia’s best HOA shooters were Blevins (545), Devin Harris (544), Breyer Meeks (542), Mason Ward (542), Carter McKenna (528) and Brennen Stones (528).
Heading into the 2026 national championships, Head Coach Dylan Owens’ team has competed at eight events throughout the 2025-26 season. After six fall competitions, the Bulldogs resumed action this spring semester by hosting the 10th annual Concordia Bulldog Sporting Invitational. They placed seventh (out of 13) at the Concordia Invite and third (out of six) at the Iowa Western Community College Invite. Notably from an individual perspective, senior Katie Welker has won women’s HOA titles at the Midland Invite, Southeast Community College Invite and Iowa Western Invite. On the men’s side, Devin Harris starred while winning the men’s HOA title at the SCC Invite. At the conference shoot in Grand Island, Neb., back in the fall, the team’s top HOA shooters outside of Welker (462) were Blevins (456), Harris (455), Kaylee Hinton (431) and Clayton Gellerman (422). Welker earned all-conference recognition.
This will be the fourth national championship for Owens as head coach. The program’s previous national championship finishes under Owens were third in 2023 and seventh in both 2024 and 2025. The 2022-23 team boasts the highest national place finish in program history.
The ACUI will display results via its website (linked above) throughout the event. Check back for a full recap at the conclusion of the National Championships.
Concordia 2026 nationals competitors:
· Samuel Blevins (La Grange, Ky.)
· Cody Carlson (Rupert, Idaho)
· Ella Cowan (Lincoln, Neb.)
· Hannah Dean (Lincoln, Neb.)
· Colby Gaines (Tulsa, Okla.)
· Clayton Gellerman (Anchorage, Alaska)
· Devin Harris (Kansas City, Mo.)
· Brianna Helsene (Minot, N.D.)
· Kaylee Hinton (Hiawatha, Kan.)
· Jerry Kaibel (Eldon, Mo.)
· Jaggar Luetje (Westside, Iowa)
· Mackenzie Owens (Moscow, Tenn.)
· Delayna Rife (Foley, Minn.)
· Faith Ritchie (Lakeland, Fla.)
· Lane Schoff (Smithfield, Neb.)
· Cael Washburn (Fort Collins, Colo.)
· Katie Welker (Hamill, S.D.)