By Andy Kostka

For The Diamondback

The University of Maryland Shotgun Sports Team is just like any other team on campus, junior David Floyd said.

“Except we shoot guns instead of score goals,” said Floyd, the team’s sergeant-at-arms and a wildlife management and agriculture science and technology major.

The group recently finished third at the first annual Blue and Gold Trap and Skeet Competition at the University of Delaware, placing behind the United States Military Academy and Washington College.

The team has seen increased interest this year — more than 60 people came to their first informational meeting, compared to about 30 who were part of the team last year.

The bump in numbers even forced them split up practice times at the Prince George’s County Trap and Skeet Center.

With their new members, the team is looking to continue the record of success it’s had under coach Anne Mauro, a university alumna who joined in 2011.

Mauro led the team to consecutive ACUI Upper East Coast Conference Championships in 2013 and 2014, a competition held at the team’s home range.

“It’s a really big mental game, and [Mauro] calms us all down, and helps us work through the mental barriers that comes with shooting,” said team president Mike Heck, a junior fire protection engineering major.

Mauro is a USA Shooting and NRA Level III Advanced Certified Shotgun Coach. She is one of 20 coaches in the country with that distinction, and one of only five women in the group, she said.

“There isn’t much I haven’t experienced,” Mauro said. “Myself being a competitive shooter, I know what it’s like to stand on the podiums of the world, and I know what it’s like to come in last place, and I know what it’s like to be everything in between.”

The team competes in trap, skeet and sporting clay events. Trapshooting involves shooting a single clay pigeon thrown from a trap. Skeet shooting has two traps, which launch clay pigeons at fixed angles for the shooter to hit. Sporting clays — which Floyd described as “golf with a shotgun” — is a clay target game designed to simulate a variety of field-shooting situations.

Many new members joined after learning about the team at the First Look Fair, including the team’s ­photographer Katherine Fishell, a junior English major. She started competing with less than a year of experience.

“You will see shooters at all different levels coming in to compete, and that’s really the beauty of the sport,” Mauro said.

And employees at the Prince George’s County Trap and Skeet Center are prepared to help.

“We try to get them to develop better habits, continue with those better habits,” said Morgan Gates, a shooter with 50 years’ experience who works at the center. “You’re supposed to practice the right way each time. If you develop a bad habit and you practice with that bad habit, you’re just really learning that bad habit and it doesn’t further your shooting.”

The team’s next tournament starts on Oct. 8 and 9 at George Mason University, and will serve as a tune-up for November’s Upper East Coast Conference Championships.

“We really want lifelong shooters out of the program, because no matter what age you are … it makes for a sport you can have to enjoy for a good part of your life,” Mauro said.

This university’s team is starting to gain recognition among those in the shooting world.

“I am now getting phone calls and emails from parents and/or students themselves that want to come to Maryland because of the Shotgun Sports Team,” Mauro said.