Competing against more than 100 colleges and universities at the ACUI Collegiate Clay Target Championships at the National Shooting Complex in San Antonio, Texas, in March, the Montreat College clay target team made history, earning two individual national titles, one team national title, and a team bronze finish.
“This is a nationally successful team, and people need to know about it,” said Hub Powell, who has led the program since its inception five years ago. “I give the kids all the credit. They earned this through a lot of hard work and God’s blessing. No question about it.”
Six Disciplines
Clay target shooting includes three primary disciplines, each with its own challenges and variants.
Sporting Clays is similar to golf, as shooters move through a course where targets vary at each station. Super Sporting is a more challenging version that features three or more traps per station, adding complexity.
In Skeet, targets fly across the field in consistent, predictable patterns. Double Skeet increases the difficulty by releasing two targets simultaneously.
Trap involves targets that fly from a trap house in unpredictable directions. Double Trap raises the intensity by launching two targets at the same time, though their flight paths are known.
From PlayStation to the Podium
At the center of Montreat’s 2025 success was sophomore Isabella Ricci, a rising star who captured the Ladies AA Singles Trap and Ladies Super Sporting national championships. The Bullhead City, Arizona, native also earned a fourth-place finish in Ladies AA Trap Doubles, placing her squarely among the best shooters in the country.
“Bella winning a national ladies title among all divisions and all women was something to see because a lot of these ladies against whom she was shooting are sponsored by major firearms manufacturers, and their firearms are provided to them,” Powell explained. “These things are not cheap. They’re $30,000 for a good gun, and Bella went out there, and one target is all it takes. She beat 189 other ladies in the Super Sporting area.”
“I really told myself that I wanted to improve on my previous year at nationals because last year I qualified, but I didn’t hit the goal I wanted,” Ricci added. “My entire thought process for this year was to do better than last year, and the results were pleasantly relieving.”
Ricci’s path into competitive shooting began unexpectedly when she was 13. Her father had planned for her to take self-defense pistol classes, but a closed range detoured them to a clay target field.
“One of the older guys at the range asked if I’d ever shot a gun. I said, ‘On my PlayStation,’” Ricci laughed. “He handed me his shotgun, sent me out with a hat and vest, threw me a few targets, and after getting rocked a few times, I fell in love with it.”
Less than a year later, Ricci started competing and eventually made her way 2,000 miles east to Montreat after Coach Powell discovered her shooting videos online.
“Hub was the first one to reach out,” she said. “He invited me to Montreat, and jokingly asked if I had ever seen a green tree before coming from the desert. When I toured the campus with my parents, we all fell in love with it. I went to a really small high school called Mojave Accelerated Learning Center, so going to a smaller college made sense for me. As you walk around campus, you see faces you’ve seen before, whether or not you know them well. That brings a really comforting feeling, and professors are always having casual conversations with students.”
Originally a business major, Ricci transitioned into Montreat’s visual communications program, drawn by its strong graphic design offerings and academic culture.
“You’re not just a number,” she said. “Classes are always small. You get to talk to professors, and they know your name. That’s nice in comparison to big colleges.”
The Program’s Rise
Now in the school’s fifth season of competition, Montreat’s clay target program delivered its most decorated showing yet, building on a silver medal in sporting clays at the 2024 championships. This year’s team secured the Division III Super Sporting national championship, as well as bronze in the Division III Doubles Trap. Overall, the Cavs finished seventh of 59 Division III squads at the ACUI Collegiate Clay Target Championships.
“We’ve been as small as five shooters and as many as 21,” said Powell. “Next year, we expect 25 to 27. It’s a growing squad, and now it’s becoming a nationally competitive one. That’s a good place to be.”
The team’s foundation rests on two core rules. The first, borrowed from West Point, is to not lie, cheat, steal, dishonor God, or tolerate those who do. The second point is about being a good teammate.
“I break out what being a good teammate looks like, supporting one another, going to class, working hard academically, and being on time,” Powell said. “That’s it. Do the right thing and be a good teammate.”
The team primarily practices at the Biltmore Sporting Clays Club on the grounds of Asheville’s historic estate. Shooters are expected to practice at least once a week, depending on class schedules.
“To win a national title begins from day one,” Powell emphasized. “We work according to when Biltmore is open. Every kid gets a bunch of shells at the beginning of a semester. I’m there anytime they want. The kids who do well are out there the most.”
Among those who’ve shaped the team’s identity in recent years is senior Brady Cox, Montreat’s long-time team captain. His 554 score at this year’s championships was tied for 22nd among approximately 1,000 shooters, earning him Second Team All-American honors. The native of Carrollton, Illinois, leaves behind a lasting legacy as both a leader and teammate.
“He’s a recruiter’s dream,” Powell said. “He has been the team captain for the past three years. He graduates this year, and tearfully so on my part. I hate to see him go. He’s such a likable kid, and he’ll do anything he can to help other shooters.”
Looking Ahead
With this year’s success behind them, Montreat’s clay target team is already taking aim at even greater success on the national stage.
“This year, we were definitely closer as a team, and I think that helped us a lot,” Ricci said. “As a team, we didn’t place in our division. If we can keep that close-knit, family-like friendship that we’ve got going on right now, I think we could definitely place next year.”
Powell echoed a similar hunger.
“We were hungry for an overall podium finish in our division this year,” Powell reflected. “We goofed up in a couple of events, so we have work to do. The beauty of not winning is if you care about it, you get hungry. The week after, I got hungry. We can do better than this because these kids deserve it.”