Centurions shooters finish third at Hoosier Classic Fall Invite | Montcalm Community College

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Friday, October 24, 2025

Centurions shooters finish third at Hoosier Classic Fall Invite

Team photo of the Clay Target team at the Hoosier Classic Fall Invite.

 

By Ryan Schlehuber, MCC Sportswriter

In its first invitational competition of the season, the Montcalm Community College Centurions clay target team walked away with some impressive results. 

In a tournament that included four-year universities such as Purdue, Illinois and Ferris State, MCC managed to shoot well enough to finish in third place overall, scoring a total of 1,909 points at the Hoosier Classic Fall Invitational at Fulton County Gun Club in Rochester, Ind., Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 18-19. The Centurions followed only Grace Christian, which took first with 1,938 points, and Purdue, which finished second with 1,912 points. 

MCC tied for second in the 5-stand category, scoring a 95, only four shots behind first place Purdue, and finished second in skeet, with a 442, just behind Grace, which had 446.  

On top of that, MCC had the tournament high in category high with 465, which it received in the singles category. Freshman Logen Steffen (Lowell, Mich.) was a big contributor for the Centurions, as he finished first in skeet with a 99, getting the highest score on Saturday, with a 228, and finished first overall with a score of 420, best among the 50 shooters who competed in the tournament.  

“I was feeling good out on those fields,” said Steffen, who set a school record only a couple weeks ago, being the first MCC shooter to shoot a perfect score (50 out of 50) during Week 3 of conference competition. “I was just doing my routine and keeping my mind calm.” 

Steffen shot an impressive 99 out of 100 in skeet and tied for third in doubles with a score of 87. He was also named best male shooter in the tournament. 

“I did feel like I was on top of my game,” Steffen said, “but I couldn’t have been in that zone without my team. They helped me get that 99 out of 100 in skeet, which helped me get the other trophies.” 

MCC sophomore Jack McBride (Portland, Mich.) earned a 91 out of 100 in skeet and a 78 in sporting clays, while sophomore Chase Merritt (Greenville, Mich.) finished second on the team with an overall score of 387, getting an 86 in skeet, 76 in sporting clays and a 95 in singles. 

“We did well as a team,” MCC head coach Chris Henry said. “We had some stiff competition in this meet, and you have to remember, many of those teams have a lot more shooters on hand, where we only had seven. So, as a team, I thought we did really well. Any time a little school like ours can beat up on the big guys, it’s always a great thing. And I’m pretty proud about that.” 

Henry was once again impressed with Steffen as he has really stepped up his game in the last few weeks. 

“He just tore it up at the tournament,” Henry said. “He was high overall shooter on both days.” 

Despite the good performance, Henry believes his team has more to show. 

“I’m never satisfied,” Henry chuckled. “We’re always going to work to get better. The goal is to bring in hardware wherever we go.” 

 

McBride follows up Steffen’s perfect conference score with one of his own 

A week after Steffen made school history becoming the first Centurions shooter to shoot a perfect score of 50-of-50 during conference competition, Jack McBride followed him up the next week during Week 4’s conference shooting.  

“Our top four scores in trap were quite impressive,” Henry said. “And Jack shot quite well, of course.” 

Freshman Evan Plonka (Lenox, Mich.) finished second with a 49 while Merritt and Steffen each scored a 48. Steffen and McBride led the team in skeet, scoring a 46 and 45, respectively.  

After Week 4, MCC extended its lead in the Class 1A, Conference 2 fall trap standings, totaling 512 to Concordia College of Moorhead’s 488.50 and Ferris State’s 442. 

In skeet (Class 1A, Conference 1), MCC holds a strong 118.5-point lead over second-place Illinois College, 494.00 to 375.50, while St. Johns University (Minn.) sits in third place with a score of 357.00. 

 

UP NEXT: Conference Competition Week 5 will be held at Flat River Conservation Club in Greenville, Friday, Oct. 24. This will be the last conference competition of the season. After Week 5, the Centurions will prepare for the Michigan College State Shoot, which will be held at Halter Shooting Sports Education Center in Hillsdale, Mich., Saturday. Oct. 25. 

 

HOOSIER CLASSIC FALL INVITATIONAL 

TOTALS STANDINGS 

  1. Grace Christian 1,938 

  1. Purdue 1,912 

  1. Montcalm 1,909 

  1. Ferris State 1,758 

  1. Illinois 1,747 

  1. Mid Michigan 1,533 

  1. Concordia 1,016 

  1. Huntington 646 

 

WEEK 4 CONFERENCE MEET 

TRAP RESULTS 

NAME                RD1    RD2    TOTAL 

Jack McBride      25      25       50 

Evan Plonka       24      25       49 

Logen Steffen    25       23       48 

Chase Merritt     23       25       48 

Collin Sutton      23       21       44 

Hunter Doolittle  21       23       44 

Liam Jensen       21       21       42 

 

SKEET RESULTS 

NAME                RD1    RD2    TOTAL 

Logen Steffen     24      22       46 

Jack McBride      21      24       45 

Chase Merritt     20       23       43 

Evan Plonka       22       20       42 

Liam Jensen       23       19       42 

Hunter Doolittle  22       20       42 

Collin Sutton       21      19       40