William Penn Defends ACUI Division 2 National Crown, 11 Claim All-America Status
San Antonio, Texas--The Statesmen shotgun sports team broke three records en route to an incredible rally in its final discipline as it defended its national title at the ACUI National Championship this week.
WPU was first out of 12 programs in Division 2 with a score of 2,875-for-3,000 over six disciplines. Fort Hays State (Kan.) and Emmanuel (Ga.) tied for second, 20 shots back at 2,855-for-3,000.
The national crown is WPU's fourth in just six years as a program (ACUI Division 4 in 2022, NCSSAA in 2023, ACUI Division 2 in 2025).
How WPU Stacked Up Against Entire Field:
For context, a total of 56 schools competed for High Overall (HOA) titles in four separate divisions (numerous others were in CAA--Class All-Around).
Among the total HOA standings, the Statesmen placed second. Only Division 1 national champion Lindenwood (Mo.) had a higher score, finishing at 2,889-for-3,000.
School Records = High Discipline Finishes:
The Statesmen set new program marks in Trap (498-for-500), Doubles Trap (484-for-500) and Super Sporting (483-for-500).
WPU walked off as national champions in both Super Sporting and Doubles Trap, while taking second in Sporting Clays (443-for-500) and third in Trap.
Breakdown of Disciplines:
The navy and gold's highest score came in Trap, led by perfect 100-for-100 scores from Connor Gittings (Sr., Kansas City, Mo., Biology), Izaac Zihlman (Fr., Mount Pleasant, Iowa, Business Management), and Colton Heintz-Kuderer (Jr., Mabel, Minn., Biology). A total of 35 individuals managed a perfect score.
Seven WPU shooters finished with just one miss, including Nikolle Kussatz (Jr., Leighton, Iowa, Biology), Brianna Thompson (Sr., Campbellsport, Wis., Psychology), Mason Ward (Grad., Twin Falls, Idaho, Master's of Organizational Leadership), Addison McGehearty (So., Mount Pleasant, Iowa, Secondary Education), Hayden Lund (So., Beaverdam, Wis., Sports Management), Morgan Hodge (Jr., West Liberty, Iowa, Nursing), and Emily Sjoberg (So., Citrus Heights, Calif., Business Management).
Kussatz's score helped her place second in the Women's Open division.
William Penn won Doubles Trap with help from individual national champion Cole Henning (Jr., Wilton, Iowa, Industrial Technology), the only person to hit all 100 targets.
The quartet of Hodge, Sjoberg, McGehearty, and Trenton Giese (So., Muskego, Wis., Mechanical Engineering) also scored for the Statesmen at 96-for-100.
Hodge ended up second in the Women's Open division, while McGehearty was third.
The Statesmen gave up some ground in Skeet and Doubles Skeet, not placing in the top three in either discipline.
WPU posted a score of 490-for-500 in Skeet with Gittings' 99-for-100 topping the crew. He finished second in the Open division and was the national champion in Combined Trap/Skeet at 199-for-200.
Henning, Heintz-Kuderer, and Nathan Roberts (Jr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Mechanical Engineering) finished at 98-for-100, while Wyatt Kresser (Jr., Independence, Iowa, Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management) and Cade Bowie (Sr., Benton, Ark., Business Management) got on the board at 97-for-100.
Led by Class A national champion Trenton Hol (Fr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Industrial Technology) and his score of 98-for-100, the navy and gold recorded a team score of 477-for-500 in Doubles Skeet.
Giese, Kresser, and Kussatz tallied scores of 95-for-100; Kussatz was the Women's Open runner-up. Roberts hit 94 of his targets as well.
Giese went 91-for-100 to lead his team to a silver in Sporting Clays. Hol and Ian Darragh (Fr., Eagle, Idaho, Business Management) were next at 89-for-100, while Zihlman was 88-for-100 and Adison Sholes (Sr., Indianola, Iowa, Public Accounting) was 86-for-100.
Angie Wolfert (Sr., Waterford, Wis., Nursing) managed a score of 78-for-100 to take third in the Women's Open division.
Despite all of the aforementioned success, the Statesmen still trailed by 22 shots entering their final discipline of Super Sporting. WPU made up the difference--and then some--by missing just 17 of its 500 shots.
Guiding the performance was Giese as the national champion at 99-for-100. Bowie shot a 98-for-100 (second in Open division), while Darragh was at 96-for-100.
Kresser and Sjoberg got on the scoreboard as well at 95-for-100.
High Overall (HOA) Standings:
Giese was third overall among all individuals, but first in Division 2 with a score of 575-for-600. Hol was also in the overall top 20 at 565-for-600.
Sjoberg's 544-for-600 helped her tie for 12th in the Female HOA standings.
All-America Success:
Giese, Hol, and Sjoberg were all named First-Team All-Americans.
Second-Team All-America honors were awarded to Darragh (558-for-600), Henning (556-for-600), and Kresser (563-for-600).
Five more Statesmen garnered Honorable-Mention All-America awards, including Gittings (552-for-600), Heintz-Kuderer (552-for-600), Sholes (552-for-600), Zihlman (551-for-600), and Bowie (550-for-600).
Coach Uitermarkt Said:
"I am so incredibly proud of how hard this team worked this year. The long days in practice and the high and lows throughout the season all played a role in forming this team. The unity I saw out of this squad was special. They set out with one goal in mind…to be National Champions. Throughout the week, we had highs and lows. Going into our last event of nationals, we were behind by 22 targets, but the team focused on their plans, helped each other, and locked in."
