Daniel White, faculty advisor of the Trap & Skeet Shooting Club, middle, stands with Braxton Rokyta, left, and Alanna DeLeon, right, as they are recognized for their strong academic achievement of holding a GPA higher than 3.5. Out of 1,200 competitors, only around 100 received similar academic recognition.

The Texas A&M University-Victoria Trap & Skeet Shooting Club is rapidly emerging as a force on the national stage, powered by standout performances from the club’s two freshman members.

Alanna DeLeon, a first-year biology major, recently claimed the A-Class Women’s National Champion title in American Trap Doubles and captured the Women’s National Champion in Combined Doubles in this year’s ACUI Clay Target Collegiate Championships in San Antonio.

Along with her, business freshman Braxton Rokyta was 3rd runner-up High Overall, placing him as the 4^th best collegiate shooter in the nation while also making the 1st Team All-American squad, a distinction that places him among the top 10 in the country.

Both DeLeon and Rokyta were recognized during the competition for their strong academic achievement of holding a GPA higher than 3.5. Out of 1,200 competitors, only around 100 received similar academic recognition.

Daniel White

“I am really proud of both of them, and I am really happy with the way that the club is growing,” said Daniel White, interim associate provost of Curriculum and Student Success and the club’s faculty advisor. “I’m grateful for all the support we get from the community, all the support we get from donors and all the support that we get from different foundations and grants.”

Competing at the ACUI national championship, held from March 16 to 21, DeLeon and Rokyta significantly raised the profile of the program and underscored A&M-Victoria’s potential as a destination for collegiate trap and skeet competitors. The ACUI national event, a major collegiate competition operating outside traditional NAIA and NCAA structures, draws approximately 1,200 competitors from across the country, including athletes from large universities with established trap and skeet programs, White said.

Both DeLeon and Rokyta earned their way into the event through a regional qualifier, which also determined their class placement at nationals, White said. Rokyta entered in AA, the highest competitive class, while DeLeon competed in A class, the second-highest.

Financial support has been critical, White said. This year, as a member institution of The Texas A&M System, the club secured a grant from the Chancellor’s Century Council, funding that covered both the students’ participation in regional and national competitions and also helped offset costs for more students to practice and learn shotgun sports in a structured, safe setting without bearing the full expense.

For the past four years, the program has also benefitted from steady support from the National Rifle Association Foundation, which focuses on educational youth initiatives. Those funds have helped introduce new shooters to the sport and enabled high school athletes to continue competing as they transition into college.

In the moments after the competition ended, the reality of it all didn’t fully register until much later, DeLeon said.

“Coming off the competition, I mean I couldn’t really believe I did it, I couldn’t really process what I’ve just accomplished,” she said. “But I knew I accomplished something big.”

Her success on the range was even more striking given the nature of the events in which she excelled. The combination of trap doubles and skeet doubles is not where she spends most of her time training, DeLeon said. Yet those very events became the platform for a national title.

“Coming into the competition, I really just wanted to focus on having fun and shooting to the best of my ability,” DeLeon said. “And in the end, I did. I got to see great people and meet new people from all over the country.”

DeLeon’s journey in trap and skeet began in middle school when she was around 14 years old. Before that, she had tried other sports, but nothing stayed with her until she found trap and skeet. Once she picked up a shotgun and began spending more time at the range, she discovered not only a sport she enjoyed, but one that challenged her to grow, DeLeon said.

Through 4-H in her hometown of Calallen and through her high school team, she immersed herself in competition. Those years were filled with long days on the range, slow but steady improvement and the kind of camaraderie that only forms when athletes travel, compete and grow up together, she said.

During the competition, DeLeon spent nearly a full week on site. Having arrived early in the week, she used practice days to settle in, refine her rhythm and adjust to the environment before the official events began. Over the course of the competition, she competed in trap doubles, skeet doubles, American trap, American skeet, super sporting and sporting clays.

“I just had to stay calm, collected and focus on one bird at a time,” DeLeon said. “I tried to put my best foot out there, have fun and let God do His work.”

For Rokyta, who finished fourth in the national event out of a field of roughly 1,200 competitors and earned recognition as part of the All-American team, those accolades might mark the peak of a season for some athletes. But for him, they are simply milestones in a journey still very much in progress, the freshman said.

“I wanted to win it,” Rokyta said. “I wanted to really put my name out there, but also to put the name of A&M-Victoria out there and let them know that we mean business.”

After the first two days, during which competitors faced a total of 400 targets, Rokyta had only missed eight and held a substantial lead. On the third day, however, one missed target led to a string of additional misses, leading him to drop 19 targets that day, which moved him from a projected first-place finish down to fourth overall.

In the doubles event, he posted a score of 98 despite contending with increasing wind as the round went on. Shortly before stepping to the line for the trap event, Rokyta realized he had lost the contact lens in his right eye, his shooting eye. With only about 15 minutes before he was scheduled to shoot and with no spare lens on hand, he had to make a quick adjustment.

“I just had to dig deep and focus harder,” he said. “I had to focus really hard on the target to make sure that I saw it.”

The focus and concentration paid off. He finished the trap event with a score of 99 out of 100, with his only miss coming in the first box of shells.

Looking ahead, Rokyta plans to revolve around continued practice and steady improvement. He wants to become more consistent, to mold himself into a more complete shooter, someone who can step onto any range, in any condition and perform at his best.

“I’m going to keep practicing,” Rokyta said. “I want to put more rounds into skeet so I can be better and make sure I get that one bird next time.”