Pistol Tournament on October 15, 2022 – Georgetown, Texas

The JCST pistol team competed in the first SASP match of the season, which was hosted by the Wilco team.  The team did reasonably well. 

Coach Daude felt that the team did “better than expected” with rookie Miles Trujillo ’25 shooting the best for JCST with a time of, 76.07 and placed 22nd overall.

Coach Maggard created a unique mentor system. Seeing as the team grows almost exponentially each year, there is a lack of veteran athletes. To counter this, Coach Maggard decided to pair up a “group system” where a veteran athlete leads a few newer shooters.  Her goal was that “the more experienced guys will show the newer guys the ropes”. Since I have 3 years on the pistol/rifle team and 4 on the shotgun, I was charged with leading the Blue group. I found immense satisfaction in watching my group mates improve, especially after I gave them pointers.

Manny Santoya ’23 shooting a string with one of the Ruger 10/22s

First Aid Class – October 18, 2022 

In Mid-October, Dr. Mauricio Trujillo, father of Miles Trujillo ‘25, and an emergency room trauma surgeon, instructed some JCST athletes in the basics of first aid. Dr. Trujillo showed the athletes how to apply a tourniquet, even allowing athletes to use training tourniquets on each other to get a feel for the process.  Furthermore, students were allowed to use a training defibrillator and packed simulated wounds with gauze.  At the end of the class, each student was gifted a basic first aid kit, with trauma shears, gauze, and a tourniquet, and was told to keep it in their range bags at all times. This training and new equipment created a helpful redundancy, as every coach on the team is first aid certified with similar trauma kits always on hand, and the constant presence of the massive trauma kit in Coach Maggard’s truck bed.  

Dr. Trujillo (left) and Miles Trujillo ’25 (right) at pistol tournament on December 3rd

November 12 Pistol Tournament in Dripping Springs, TX

The team’s second tournament was in Dripping Springs, Texas.  Located near Austin, the team had to utilize a small school bus to shuttle the athletes to the range in Dripping Springs. It was a cold day to shoot, which can be troublesome as cold weather firearms gunk up and jam more frequently, but the team managed to avoid this due to the coaches’ constant reminders to the athletes to clean their guns. Ryan Zito was the tournament’s highest-scoring ranger, with a cumulative time of 65.67.  Ryan was “super excited, and really satisfied with the results”. The squad model that debuted in the Georgetown tournament continued to be employed, with the same squad leaders manning the helm.  As a squad leader, I personally found it satisfying to see the improvement that my squad had, as everyone worked so hard in the space between tournaments, and was able to make tremendous improvements.  I am so proud of my squadmates for their hard work and determination, and grateful to the coaches for giving up their time to help us.

David Amador (right) lining up on his 3rd target while Coach Daude (left) times him.

December 3rd

While the results of this tournament have not been officially posted, by popular opinion the MVP of the match was freshman Noah Nicosia ’26, who went faster than anyone on the team had seen this year. Noah has proved to be a valuable addition to the team, coming in 3rd overall in a Glock tournament hosted at Dallas Pistol Club, and seems to be a rising star on the pistol team.

From left to right: Coach Daude, Coach Maggard, Miles Trujillo, Noah Nicosia, Ryan Zito, Alexander Adee, Joseph and David Amador, Santiago Valles, Sam Rouse, and Coach Irving

Stay tuned to The Roundup for more news over JCST!