|
CONTACT:
Emily Stack Davis
517-803-3745
Hillsdale College Student Ava Downs Wins Gold in Women’s Trap in 2025 Junior Pan American Games
Downs qualified for the games at the USA Shooting Trap National Championship, which Hillsdale hosted earlier this year.
HILLSDALE, Mich. — Hillsdale College Student Ava Downs ’27 won a gold medal in women’s trap at the 2025 Junior Pan American Games in Asunción, Paraguay, on Aug. 11.
“It is exciting to see Ava representing Hillsdale and America on an international stage,” said shotgun head coach Jordan Hintz. “She is an outstanding shotgun athlete, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to see her take home a gold medal.”
Downs qualified for the games at the USA Shooting Trap National Championship, held at Hillsdale’s John Anthony Halter Shooting Sports Education Center May 28 through June 1. This season, Downs was named to the 2025 USA Shooting National Women’s Trap Team, Junior Women’s Trap Team, World Championships Trap Team, and Junior Pan American Games Trap Team. She also won gold in women’s trap in the 2025 USA Shooting Junior Olympic Trap National Championship.
Other Hillsdale students named to 2025 USA Shooting teams were Jordan Sapp ’26, who was named to the National Men’s Skeet Team; Davis Hay ’26, who was named to the Junior Men’s Skeet Team; and Taylor Dale ’28, who was named to the Junior Women’s Trap Team.
Sapp and Hay, along with Joshua Corbin ’25, Madeline Corbin ’27, and Luke Johnson ’27, were also named All-Americans for their individual performances at the ACUI/SCTP Collegiate Clay Target Championship in March.
For a headshot of Downs, click here. For photos of Downs at the 2025 Junior Olympic Trap National Championship, click here. For photos of Hillsdale College, click here. For a high-resolution copy of the Hillsdale College clocktower logo, click here.
About the John Anthony Halter Shooting Sports Education Center
The Halter Center is a state-of-the-art shooting facility located five miles from the Hillsdale College campus. The Center boasts 113 range acres, four international skeet fields, a 23-station sporting clays course, eight American trap fields, five international bunkers, an action shooting range, an enclosed and climate-controlled five-stand range, and an international archery range. The Center also features the AcuSport Lodge and Grille and six cottages to accommodate overnight lodging. A 62,000-square-foot indoor/outdoor rifle and pistol building will be completed in fall 2025.
Opened in 2008, the Center aims to introduce individuals to shooting sports and encourage interest across all levels of experience. The home of the USA Shooting National Team since 2019, the Halter Center hosts USA Shooting skeet and trap nationals and Junior Olympic development camps and championships. The Center is also the home of Hillsdale’s national championship-winning shotgun and action shooting teams. The Center is open to the public, offering annual range memberships as well as classes, camps, and other programming focused on the shooting sports and the principles of the Constitution. For more information, visit shootingsports.hillsdale.edu.
About Hillsdale College
Hillsdale College is an independent, nonsectarian, Christian liberal arts college located in southern Michigan. Founded in 1844, the College has built a national reputation through its classical liberal arts core curriculum and its principled refusal to accept federal or state taxpayer subsidies, even indirectly in the form of student grants or loans. It also conducts an outreach effort promoting civil and religious liberty, including a free monthly speech digest, Imprimis, with a circulation of more than 6.9 million. For more information, visit hillsdale.edu.