The Shocker Shooting Sports team finished their season-opening tournament yesterday.

While schools with large shooting programs like Lindenwood and Fort Hayes came out with many awards and medals, WSU head coach Tom Binyon saw his newly unveiled class system at work while his competitors earned medals in their respective categories.

In skeet, Cheyenne Stillinger took silver in B class, Ayla Butler took home a bronze in C class, Alex Young took home a gold and Kathy Fernandez took home a silver medal.

In trap, Dinkel took a gold medal home for shooting 98/100 in class B, Kathy Fernandez took a gold in class D and Alex Young took a silver medal for the team.

In sporting clays, Joel Trembly took a gold home in class B and Alex Young took a gold home in class D.

Despite the team’s individual successes, as a whole, Binyon said his team was too uptight.

“It may sound bad, but I think the kids try to hard,” Binyon said. “It’s kind of like golf — if you grip the club too hard, it won’t work. It’s the same with shooting. You have to be comfortable and just go and shoot.”

Austin Schroeder, team president, also said he could have done better this weekend.

“Personally, I did not shoot to my potential,” Schroeder said. “I didn’t get the scores I wanted, but I just need to work harder. As a whole, our team did great.”

Binyon said, even though it seems counter intuitive, competitors have to relax.

“I’ve seen as shooters get better, they try to force getting better,” Binyon said. “You can’t over coach them.”

All in all, the Shockers feel they hosted a successful tournament.

“It went well,” Binyon said. “The weather was perfect, everyone shot well and everyone was happy.”