Downs helped the U.S. win the trap mixed team bronze medal at the 2025 ISSF Shotgun World Championship.

Hillsdale College shotgun athlete Ava Downs ’27 helped the U.S. take home a bronze medal at the 2025 ISSF Shotgun World Championship near Athens, Greece, on Oct. 18. Downs and Walton Eller represented the U.S. in trap mixed team, in which rank is determined by the combined scores of one male and one female athlete from each country.

“Ava was competing against the best in the world, not just other young shooters,” said shotgun head coach Jordan Hintz. “This is her first medal at the open world championship, and it’s exciting to watch her diligence and determination pay off on the world stage.”

Earlier this year, Downs won a gold medal in women’s trap at both the 2025 USA Shooting Junior Olympic Trap National Championship and the 2025 Junior Pan American Games, where she also won a silver medal in mixed team trap. Junior events are for athletes up to 21 years old.

Last 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.

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 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 7.1 million. For more information, visit hillsdale.edu.