WaHi Rifle Team shines at NRA Junior Sectionals
On Saturday, January 13th, WaHi’s JROTC precision rifle team traveled to Spokane, Washington to compete in three National Rifle Association (NRA) Sectional matches against Spokane Junior Rifle Club. The matches were sanctioned and sponsored by the NRA and hosted by the Spokane Rifle Club.
The Blue Devils managed to win 2 of the 3 contests. Cadets comprising the scoring team were Cadet Captain Micah Vawter, Cadet Lieutenant Hannah Goin, Cadet First Sergeant Saphira Rynaski, and Cadet Corporal Evan Graham.
The first match was a three-position smallbore match. Instead of using air rifles, cadets shot using .22 caliber rifles. Each cadet shot two targets for each of the three shooting positions: standing, kneeling, and prone.
Leading WaHi’s precision team for the first match was Vawter with a score of 532 out of 600 points, a score that placed him in 3rd overall individually and marked a career-high smallbore score for him. Behind Vawter, in fourth place individually, was Graham with a score of 519 points. In her first match as part of WaHi’s smallbore team, Rynaski placed fifth with a 506-point score. The team pulled a first-place win with a 2044 over Spokane at 2040.
The second match was with air rifles conducted entirely from the unsupported standing position. Each cadet shot four targets with each target worth 100 points.
With 374 out of 400 points, Vawter again led the Blue Devils for the second match, taking the bronze medal. WaHi’s team score of 1453 won the match over the Spokane Rifle Club’s Gold Team.
The third and final match was a three-position air rifle match with cadets shooting two targets for each of the three shooting positions.
On this final match of the day, Goin dominated the field with a career-high score of 585 out of 600 points, winning the match over Spokane’s Ensley Breeden who finished the day on a 582. This marks the highest 3-position air rifle score of Goin’s career.
“Goin shot a phenomenal match,” said Rifle Coach Sergeant First Class Mark Mebes after the matches. “She has been spending a lot of extra time on the range since the winter break, and today it really paid off.”
WaHi came up 13 points short of victory with a total team score of 2267 behind Spokane.
“This was a great match to knock the dust off after our winter break,” said Vawter after Saturday’s shooting. “We have four more competitions over the next month, including Army JROTC Nationals. We’ll be working hard in practice to get ready for the busiest weeks of the whole season.”
The Blue Devil squad returned home to train for two upcoming JROTC league competitions, one Junior Olympics match, and the Army JROTC Service Championships.
