Georgia Southern Clay Target team claims high overall championship in competitive debut
Georgia Southern University’s Clay Target team soared above the opponents at the 2026 Collegiate Fall Lower East Conference Championships Nov. 6-8 in Jacksonville, Florida, in the team’s official competitive debut.
The team was crowned High Overall (HOA) Team Champion with a score of 2,173, finishing ahead of Emmanuel University and Jacksonville University. The competition, organized by the Association of College Unions International (ACUI) and Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP), was held at Jacksonville Clay Target Sports.
The Eagles also captured first place in Sporting Clays and first place in American Trap, while earning third place in American Skeet. Georgia Southern also brought home the High Overall individual titles in both the women’s and men’s divisions.
Marley Montford earned Female HOA honors, along with first-place finishes in Sporting Clays and Super Sporting and a second-place finish in Ladies Skeet. Connor Daniel claimed Male HOA honors, finishing first in Sporting Clays and Super Sporting and second in American Trap.
Several other Eagles earned top-three individual finishes throughout the competition:
- Jackson Roberts: first place, Doubles Skeet; third place, Doubles Trap and HOA
- Ethan Stavriotis: third place, Doubles Skeet
- Blake Reed: second place, Sporting Clays
- Emmaline Haddad: third place, American Trap
Team Event Finishes
First place, Sporting Clays – Connor Daniel, Blake Reed, Curt Jones, Zachary McRae and Barrett Downing
First place, American Trap – Connor Daniel, Gage Yarborough, Mason Maine, Aidan Caldwell and Graham Lee
Third place, American Skeet – Connor Daniel, Marley Montford, Lane Montford, Lance Sevier and Zachary McRae
“What a great way to kick off our 2026-27 competition season,” said Head Coach Marty Fischer. “We were competitive at an extremely high level in all of the six clay target disciplines we shot. The hard work at practices, believing in each other as a team and the overall depth of the program stood out all weekend,” he said. “We had 20 shooters post top five team qualifying or matching top five scores.”
The Eagles will resume competition following the holiday break when they travel to San Antonio, Texas, for the ACUI/SCTP Lower Midwest Conference Championships at the end of January.