At the 2024 United States Practical Shooting Association Collegiate Championship tournament, a Hillsdale College team led by Westlake High School alumnus Taylor Chen bested teams from West Point, the Naval Academy and six other institutions to claim first prize. Chen also took second place in one of the two individual men’s divisions.
“The sport is super-dynamic,” says Chen of practical shooting. “You learn how to shoot accurately, to have self-control and how to move fast.”
“I was a Southern California kid with minimal shooting experience, but [Hillsdale’s coach] took a chance.”
Hillsdale, in partnership with Springfield Armory, hosted the event at the John A. Halter Shooting Sports Education Center Ailes Action Shooting Range in Michigan on Sept. 28 and 29. The weekend competition drew 120 student-athletes from around the nation.
Unlike other shooting sports, practical shooting demands that competitors move strategically around an area to hit a set of targets in as little time as possible. Shooters have four minutes to observe the new set-up of targets — each set-up unique — and plan their “course of fire,” which is the order in which they try to hit targets and their own movement within the delimited field of play. Targets can be anywhere from seven to 40 yards distant.
“You are looking for flow and efficiency of movement,” says Chen, who is a senior studying biology at Hillsdale.
Accuracy matters as well; each target presents three zones awarding different numbers of points for precision of fire.
Chen previously competed on the steel challenge team — which requires hitting targets from a stationary position — and excelled at it, placing 109th at the World Speed Shoot, essentially a world championship, in Talladega, Ala., in May. But he hankered for something new, and when he tried practical shooting, he found it demanded a very different set of skills compared to what he had done before.
“I was slightly overwhelmed my first time, and it didn’t go super-well, but I fell in love with it,” he says. “It brings a physical aspect to shooting. It makes it engaging. Everything I run into in competition is brand-new and novel.”
Chen uses a heavily modified Springfield Prodigy 9mm double-stack 1911.
At the recent competition, the first day was attended by winds from the remnants of Hurricane Helene.
“We were out there shooting and getting completely soaked,” Chen says. “It was not ideal for record-breaking performances.”
Day two was almost ideal, with warm, overcast weather. Teams from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, Pasadena City College, Gateway Technical Institute in Wisconsin, Michigan State University, Michigan Technical University, Clemson, West Point and the Naval Academy competed for more than four hours each day.
Chen took second place in the individual men’s iron sights division, and Hillsdale students took second and third places in both divisions.
Chen admits to being a nervous wreck as day two unfolded, and the Hillsdale Action Shooting Team remained neck-and-neck with the squad from the Naval Academy.
“I was nauseated,” he says. “I watched our people shoot and was seeing mistakes and could feel the pit in my stomach. I was watching other teams shoot, too, and seeing their mistakes and victories. I was counting points and figuring out what we needed to do.”
When scores were tallied and Hillsdale’s team was declared the winner, “I was ecstatic,” he says.
Hillsdale took first place in both divisions — one for shooters using iron sights, another for shooters using optics, meaning red dots. Chen took second place in the individual men’s iron sights division, and Hillsdale students collectively took second and third places in other individual divisions.
Chen says the team’s culture has a military flavor, having been shaped by numerous students who served in combat zones in the Middle East before enrolling at Hillsdale.
“We are a second family,” he says. “We love each other, but we don’t tolerate any whining.”
Chen attributes his acumen as a shooter to Coach Burlew.
“He took me onto the team when there was no reason to,” Chen says. “I was a Southern California kid with minimal shooting experience, but he took a chance and has invested years of training and ammo into my development.”
Hillsdale’s Halter Shooting Sports Education Center promotes the responsible and disciplined use of firearms in shooting sports for all ages by teaching fundamental safety and marksmanship, according to the school. It also trains young athletes “to compete at the highest levels; fosters intelligent patriotism, self-governance, and citizenship through teaching the U.S. Constitution; and supports American shooting sport success on the world stage in partnership with USA Shooting.”
Chen also appreciates the education he received at Westlake High School, particularly the journalism program, The Arrow, which “provided me a marketable skill in the real world.”
“The academic rigor in the classes, and the teachers themselves, as well as the competitive nature of the students at Westlake High helped prepare me for college academics,” he says.
Looking ahead, Chen is contemplating a run at the Olympics, should the Olympic committee approve practical shooting for competition — in the 2032 Games, at the earliest.
“I am not quite on an Olympic level yet, but that would be a goal I would chase,” says the former Warrior.
That’s A W E S O M E ! As a competitive shooter myself and NRA pistol instructor, I love seeing our students learn firearms safety and excel at shooting. Competitive pistol shooting (USPSA, IPSC, IDPA and Steel Challenge) can develop pistol skills quickly when combined with a heavy focus on dry-fire, mental and physical training.