Blue Devil Cadets take Second in Washington State Junior Olympic Air Rifle Match
The Blue Devil JROTC Precision Team claimed second place in the Junior Olympic Air Rifle Washington State Championship. The match was held in three different locations in Washington State in December and January, with nearly 50 shooters from nearly a dozen different rifle teams across the state represented. Individual athletes in this match may receive invitations to the Junior Olympic National Championship held at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado this spring.
In the Junior Olympics, shooters compete in a pair of matches, both scored separately. The first is an air rifle match of 60 record shots, all fired from the standing position at a distance of 10 meters for a total possible score of 600 points. In the afternoon, teams competed in a small-bore .22 rifle match fired from the kneeling, prone, and finally standing positions at a distance of 50 feet. Each position has a possible score of 200, for a total of 600. Only precision class shooters compete in these championships, as there is no separate sporter class category.
WaHi’s top shooter in the air rifle match was WaHi Rifle Team Captain Micah Vawter, taking 4th place overall in the men’s division with a 560, and Cadet Sergeant First Lieutenant Hannah Goin and Cadet Staff Sergeant Adam Fundak who both ended the day on a 559. Goin’s score earned her 7th in the state in the Women’s division, with Fundak’s score earning 6th.
The Blue Devil Air Rifle Team, consisting of Vawter, Goin, and Fundak compiled a total of 1,678 points, earning second place behind the Spokane Rifle Club Team who won the state championship with 1,721 led by Tanner Krebs with 572.
In the smallbore match that afternoon, The Blue Devil’s top shooter was Cadet Corporal Evan Graham who shot a surprising score of 533 in the first smallbore rifle match of his precision career. Goin, also shooting in her first smallbore contest ended the day with a 530 for WAHI’s second-highest score.
“Graham’s score was a surprise to everyone,” said Vawter after the match “He has been shooting well in practice, and doing an incredible amount of work lately but never having competed in a smallbore match we didn’t know what to expect. He and Goin seem to have a knack for smallbore shooting. It will be interesting to see how they progress this year.”
The WaHi Team for smallbore consisted of Vawter, Goin, Fundak at 504, and Cadet Corporal Claire Calvert, who shot a 515 in her first career smallbore match. At the end of the competition, they had amassed a total score of 2,063, placing them 3rd in the state.
“This is a very inexperienced team to produce such good scores,” commented Rifle Team Coach Mark Mebes. “We are primarily an air rifle team and only shoot a small amount of smallbore on our high school range. Vawter is the only shooter who has ever competed in a smallbore match before today. To have all five of them shoot over a 500 is a feat that I frankly did not expect from this team, but they have put in a lot of work the last few weeks and seem to enjoy shooting the .22s. We’ll probably try to find some more smallbore matches to shoot this year and capitalize on their motivation.”
“Vawter, Fundak, and Goin’s air rifle scores may qualify them for the Junior Olympic National Match in Colorado,” said Mebes. “Invitations will depend on average scores posted nationwide, so we’ll have to see what the trends are this year. Anyone shooting in the 560 range is generally within range for an invite most years.”
