Courtesy of NSSF

SAN ANTONIO — It may not get the amount of attention that college basketball’s March Madness receives, but for a record 37 schools and 337 clay target shooters, it is the biggest event of the year.

The 41st ACUI Clay Target Championships kicked off today in San Antonio with the best turnout in the event’s history. The tournament added seven new schools this year and saw an 11 percent jump in participation over last year’s record-setting event.

The championships will be held today through Sunday at the National Shooting Complex. Shooters will compete in five shotgun disciplines, including international trap and skeet, American trap and skeet and 5-Stand — held in men’s, women’s and team divisions. Scholarships and spots on Olympic development teams will be awarded.

ESPN U will televise the competition at future dates, with major sponsorship from the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF).

Sponsors of the championship include the Association of College Unions International (ACUI), NSSF, Winchester, National Rifle Association and USA Shooting.

Schools represented this year include:

Colorado State University
Eastern Kentucky University
Fort Hays State University
Franklin Pierce University
George Mason University
Iowa State University
Kansas State University
Lindenwood University
Missouri University of Science and Technology
Northern Arizona University
Northern Oklahoma College
Oklahoma State University
Purdue University
Radford University
Sam Houston State University
Schreiner University
Southeastern Illinois College
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
Trinity University
United States Military Academy
University of Central Missouri
University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
University of Delaware
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University Of Louisiana-Lafayette
University of Missouri
University of Nebraska-Omaha
University of Tennessee-Martin
University of Texas-Arlington
University of Virginia
University of Wisconsin-Platteville
University of Wyoming
Virginia Military Institute
Virginia Tech
Weatherford College
Yale University

Get results from the ACUI Clay Target Championships and learn more at http://www.acui.org/content.aspx?menu_id=14&id=380.