SFCC shooting sports team earns trophies at national championship

The State Fair Community College shooting sports team returned home with trophies received at the National Collegiate Shooting Sports Athletic Association (NCSSAA) National Championships held in March at the Clark County Shooting Complex in Las Vegas, Nevada. SFCC is the only community college in Missouri that offers shooting sports as an athletic program.

SFCC had 12 student-athletes qualify for nationals. They were NJ McKenzie of Boonville, Connor Hess of California, Missouri, Anthony Walls of Ashland, Braiden McEachern of Slater, Hunter Snow of Columbia, Will VanVactor of Marshall, Matthew Richardson of Hughesville, Ben Engemann of Herman, Daniel Younger-Losing of Hughesville, Arthur Sims of Sedalia, Aidan Meyer of Boonville, and Philip Crawford of Jefferson City.

NJ McKenzie earned NCSSAA All-American honors in American Skeet. All-Americans are determined by the shooters regular season averages and their national score. The honors were given to the top five student-athletes in each discipline.

The Roadrunners took second place as a squad in American Skeet. Squad members were McKenzie with a score of 98; Younger-Losing with a score of 95; Engemann with a score of 93; Walls with a score of 93, and Hess with a score of 92. McKenzie tied for first place as an individual but ended up finishing fourth overall after shoot-offs to break the ties in American Skeet.

SFCC placed second in Double Skeet. McKenzie scored a 93, Hess scored a 90, McEachern scored an 89, Walls scored an 89, and Sims scored an 83.

"Braiden McEachern was our top shooter with a total of 265 birds out of 300 overall," said SFCC Head Coach Sarah Manuel. "Daniel Younger-Losing really stepped up for us at nationals. Daniel took eighth overall in Doubles Trap and then multiple other top five finishes for our squad.

"Arthur Sims had never shot competitively when the season began. He just joined the team to see how he would do. He ended up finishing second high overall in our squad with 264 out of 300 birds. NJ McKenzie scored a 261, Connor Hess scored a 260, and Anthony Walls had a 259 out of 300.

"I'm just very proud of these students and what they did and how they showed up to the competition," said Manuel. "We were starting in a new league this year, and I was kind of nervous going into it. Our kids really stepped up to the plate and allowed us to be successful. I'm very proud of the way the overall trip went, and I can't wait to get back to work for next season."

Coach Manuel, who is in her second season at SFCC, was recognized as the NCSSAA 2022-2023 Division V Coach of the Year at the event. This prestigious honor is determined by votes from all the NCSSAA division coaches, of which there are five.

David Rohrbach
SFCC Athletics