JROTC Rifle Match in Kennewick
123 high school JROTC marksmen representing 23 rifle teams from 16 schools across Washington and Oregon met on Saturday, February 24th in Kennewick for the Cascade Mountain League JROTC Drill Meet Rifle Match. The high school marksmen filled 5 relays at Kennewick High School to test their marksmanship skills in the 4th of 5 contests that the Cascade Mountain League conference will hold this season. Shooters competed in 3 position rifle matches consisting of 20 record shots in the kneeling, prone, and standing positions.
In the Sporter class, sophomore Cadet Corporal Sofie Edwards fired the Blue Devil’s highest score with a 519 out of 600, taking the silver medal in the Expert category. The Blue Devil Sporter rifle team was led by Cadet Captain Wyatt Block who turned a 504 for first place in the Sharpshooter class, Cadet Captain Aviella Wilson at 503, Cadet Corporal Jaycee Cox at 500, and Cadet Sergeant Sarah Nelson at 478. WaHi’s team total of 1985 gave them a one-point margin of victory over the Sporter team from Lebanon High School in Oregon, winning the Sporter Team 2 category for the first time this season.
In addition to Block’s gold medal win in the Sharpshooter class, WaHi’s Cadet Lieutenant Claire Wooster took bronze behind a 494, and Cadet First Sergeant Octavio Osorio produced a personal record of 501 in the expert class.
In the Precision Class, Walla Walla swept the top 6 spots with Cadet Corporal Evan Graham shooting a career-high score of 582 to take gold, followed by rifle team captain Cadet Major Micah Vawter shooting a career-high score of 578. Cadet Lieutenant Hannah Goin took home bronze behind a 574.
“Graham has been on a roll the last few weeks,” said rifle team coach Mark Mebes “He fired a personal record in Puyallup earlier this month, PR’ed both days at the Army National Match in Utah two weeks ago, then beat that score by 6 points today. Four new personal records in less than a month is extraordinary.”
At the conclusion of the day, Walla Walla’s Precision Team took first place over the team from Salem, Oregon 2286 to 2058. Precision Team members firing the match included Vawter and Goin, as well as Cadet Staff Sergeant Adam Fundak and Cadet First Sergeant Saphira Rynaski.
“We shot a very solid score today,” said Vawter of their match “We were only off our season high by four points.”
WaHi’s scores this season have gained both their sporter and precision rifle teams invitations to the Cascade Mountain League JROTC Championship in Redmond, Oregon in three weeks and the CMP Western Regional Championship in Utah in April.
