Morgan Hilliard of Westport became part of Tennessee shooting sports history, when she claimed two Grand Championship honors at the Tennessee Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) State Championships on June 22.
Hilliard won Grand HOA (Highest Over-All) Champion, breaking 283 out of 300 targets in the main events of trap, skeet, and sporting clays. She also earned the Grand HAA (High All-Around) Champion title by breaking 601 out of 650 targets.
Hilliard will go on to represent Carroll County along with members of the Mckenzie Shooting team at the National Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) Championships beginning July 12 in Marengo, Ohio.
She’s one of three members from the McKenzie team who were selected as part of Tennessee’s top 15 youth shooters. Barrett Shepherd of Clarksburg and Colin Whitehead of Paris will join her.
“She’s had a good run so far,” said her mother, Wendy Hilliard.
According to Wendy, Morgan was a natural sharpshooter from the moment she first picked up a shotgun.
“She was about 11 years old. We were at a friend’s house shooting targets,” Wendy said. “Morgan picked up a shotgun just to try it out, and she just kept hitting them!”
“I looked at my husband and said, ‘This kid needs to be on a team.’ And that was that,” she added.
Now entering her senior year as a homeschool student, Morgan has been competing with the McKenzie team for nearly seven years.
She and her sisters transitioned from playing softball into the shooting sports one by one. Collectively, the girls are known on social media as the Annie Oakley Sisters.
Morgan has excelled across multiple shooting disciplines, including trap, skeet, and sporting clays.
Last year at Nationals, she won the High Overall (HOA) award for female shooters, and took home a custom Jostens pendant.
According to Wendy, Morgan’s success has opened doors beyond youth shooting.
She begun competing in adult tournaments, and earning podium finishes and cash prizes.
She now has sponsorships from several major names in the sport, including Cole Gunsmithing and Pine Ridge Farm, and receives coaching from a professional in the sporting clays world.
“Her goal is to go pro,” Wendy said.
The McKenzie Shooting Team that Morgan is a member of is an “open” team, unaffiliated with any particular school, which allows them to welcome shooters from across the region. They have members from Huntingdon, Bruceton, West Carroll, and even as far away as Dyersburg.
“Not every school has a team,” Wendy said. “So this gives kids, especially homeschoolers or those from smaller towns, a chance to compete. It’s like a big family.”
With just days remaining before the national competition, Morgan and her teammates will continue training, setting their sights on representing Tennessee and Carroll County with a top finish.
