Trine handgun team aces regional

Takes home Sweepstakes Award for most wins

Trine University’s Handgun Team put their best performance in their sights and hit the bullseye Friday through Sunday, targeting more awards than ever before at the American Criminal Justice Association (ACJA) Region 6 Conference in Bloomington, Ill.

Trine TAO ACJA Handgun Team members and advisers competing at the regional conference were, front from left: Sara Miles, Jamie Warner, Tiffany Malone, Jessica Vandeklok, Amber Michaels, Andrew Ross, and Alison Bonham. In the back from left are: Josh Buchs, Jeffrey Willis, adviser John Milliken, Vincent Kessler, Corey Cox, Kyle Perkins, Zak Ackerman, and adviser Craig Laker.

Trine’s team members are part of the Tau Alpha Omicron (TAO) chapter of the ACJA, and annually bring home prestigious awards at regional and national competition. But they outdid themselves this year, according to Trine Criminal Justice, Psychology and Social Sciences Department chair Craig Laker, who co-advises the team with John Milliken, assistant professor for the department. For the first time, the Trine team earned the Sweepstakes Award for most awards.

“We won the most awards ever, and represented Trine with honor,” Laker said. “I am very proud of our students, and many are looking forward to the weeklong national ACJA conference in Jacksonville, Fla. in April 2009.”

Trine senior and TAO president Corey Cox repeated his ACJA regional performance from last year, scoring 432 out of 480 total points to bring home the Top Gun award for best marksmanship in the upper division for juniors and seniors. Milliken was second and Laker third in the professional division.

Trine’s handgun teams also fared well. Three-member teams aced the upper, lower, and professional divisions, with Cox, Kyle Perkins, and Zak Ackerman first in the upper, Vincent Keesler, Jamie Warner, and Josh Buchs first in the lower, and Alison Bonham, Laker and Milliken first in the professional levels. The Trine team of Jeffrey Willis, Andrew Ross, and Tiffany Malone captured second in the upper division.

Criminal justice skills also put Trine on the top. Physical agility tests for students under age 25 found Tiffany Malone, Sara Miles, and Jessica Vanderklok the top three women, while Willis and Ackerman captured the number one and three spots for men. Laker placed second and Milliken third among men 35 and over.

Trine claimed the top three upper division spots in three-member crime scene investigation teams: Cox, Miles, and Perkins first, Amber Michaels, Vanderklok and Willis second, and Ackerman, Vincent Keesler, and Malone third. The Trine team of Jamie Warner, Josh Buchs, and Ross captured first in the lower division for freshmen and sophomores. Milliken, Laker, and Bonham were second in the professional division.

But they have brains to go with that brawn. Trine swept first place in all three divisions in corrections, with Vanderklok first in upper, Warner first in lower, and Laker first in professional divisions. Michaels and Bonham placed second and third in the upper division.

In tests measuring knowledge of Lambda Alpha Epsilon, the ACJA governing body, Vanderklok and Willis placed first and third in the upper division, Buchs and Keesler placed first and second in the lower division, and Laker took second in the professional division.

Malone, Perkins, and Cox swept the first three spots in upper division criminal law, while Buchs captured third in the lower division and Milliken first in the professional division.

Cox placed first in upper division police administration, and Laker captured second in the professional division.