Todd Hitch stepped onto the last station of the 2026 NSCA National Sporting Clays Championship holding a five-target lead, with hundreds of spectators watching every pair. He broke every target on it and walked away with the Main Event title.
Hitch, who shoots for Team Remington, finished with 289x300 at the National Shooting Complex in San Antonio, seven targets clear of runner-up Derrick Mein. More than 2,600 shooters, including a strong international contingent, competed during the championship’s Oct. 17-25 run. Paired with his second straight U.S. Open title in August, the win gives Hitch two of the biggest Main Event sporting clays crowns in a single season.
Sunday’s final course opened as a five-way race, with the leaders separated by only a few targets. Hitch shot it nearly clean and kept the field at bay through the closing stations. By the time he reached the last one, the margin was five, and the only thing left that could beat him was the moment itself.
“I just told myself don’t look at the scoreboard, focus on what I needed to do, trust the process, be aggressive and see the birds first and execute the shot,” Hitch said.
He ran the station clean, adding two more targets to his cushion.
That finish carried extra weight for Hitch, whose bid for the 2025 NSCA Main Event title came apart on a single bad station. He said his preparation now begins long before he reaches the range, with his schedule, coaching and practice time all built toward arriving at each tournament ready and confident.
“I made a goal a couple of years ago to never go into a tournament feeling under prepared,” Hitch said.
Across the four 75-target courses that made up the Main Event, Hitch posted 74 on two of them. He left San Antonio with more than $30,000 in winnings and summed up his first Nationals Main Event title simply: “This feels great!”
Hitch shot Remington Premier Nitro Sporting Clays shotshells in the Main Event, the 1⅛-ounce load of No. 8 shot at 1,300 fps. He credits the load’s pattern density for his confidence on longer presentations.
“It holds such a good pattern at 40 to 50 yards. Because of its pattern density, I have such confidence in that load to break every target on the course,” he said.
His week didn’t end with the Main Event. Hitch also placed third in the Super Sporting event with 96x100 and finished second in the All-Around with 656x800.
Teammate Braxton Oliver won the K Kup overall title with 98x100, topping a field of more than 2,100 shooters. Madison Sharpe added three podium finishes for Team Remington, taking second in both the Lady All-Around (620x800) and Lady FITASC (90x100) and third in Lady Five-Stand with 86x100.
Full results from the 2026 NSCA National Sporting Clays Championship are posted at the Score Chaser website.
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