By Kathy Konek
For two consecutive weekends the Kootenai Valley Rifle Club hosted sectional rifle matches at the Bonners Ferry Range. This is a match that you shoot at a local range then your score is sent to the NRA and all Sectional scores are accumulated and your national ranking is determined. Those results will be posted by the NRA later in the year. Shooters from Sandpoint (Sndpt), Coeur d’Alene (CdA) and Kootenai Valley (KV) teams were represented.
The first weekend, February 17-18, a junior smallbore rifle match and a junior air rifle match were held. A junior is anyone under 21 years old.
The smallbore match was shot indoors using a single shot .22 caliber rifle at target 50 feet away. To score a 10 the competitor must hit a dot not much larger than the period at the end of this sentence.
Fifteen competitors each shot two targets in each of the prone, standing and kneeling positions using iron sights. A possible 600 points was the goal. Salix Harris (KV) earned the Match Winner honors with a score of 535. Alora Rasor (Sndpt), setting a new PR by 40 points, placed second with a score of 501. Kyalynn Comer (KV) was third scoring 491. All three represented the intermediate-junior class (15-17 years old). Emmett Lowman (Sndpt), placed first in the junior class (18-20 years old) and Lexie Paszczynska (CdA) was first in the sub-junior class (14 years old and under).
Other notable achievements were shot by Blake Morasch (Sndpt), placing second overall in the prone position and third overall in kneeling. Paige Sartell (KV) was fourth overall in the prone and kneeling positions. Daphne Garberoglio (CdA) placed fourth overall in the standing position.
Next was the air rifle match, shooting in the standing position at 33 feet with competition grade air rifles. The KV team take the first three places, in order Harris, Comer and Sartell. Rasor would complete the team, which together scored 1280 out of 1600 possible.
Gear was packed up and the shooters would return the next week, February 23rd thru 25th. The same rifles were used, but the target was a bit different and one more position was added. On this target the 10 ring is smaller than an eraser on the end of your pencil, but larger than a period. The competitors completed the course of fire using the prone, standing, sitting, and kneeling positions.
The first match which any one can compete in, using a scoped rifle or iron sights, was finished by shooting two targets in each of the four positions for a total of 80 shots and a perfect score being an 800. Seventeen shooters would take the line. Ron Shadel (Sndpt) finished first with a score of 784. Silver was awarded to Greg Mead (KV) also with a score of 784. John Holbert (Sndpt) earned the Bronze with a score of 776. Comer of the KV Junior team was close behind in 4th overall, and first Sharpshooter, with a 773. Harris of Troy, MT also shooting for the KV Junior team was match winner in the standing position with a 192 out of 200 possible. Garberoglio (CdA) was top in the Marksman class with a score of 744.
The second match was for junior (under 21 years old) shooters only using iron sights. Nine competitors would shoot one target in each position for a total of 40 shots and a score of 400 possible. The KV team would take the first two places. Harris, in the intermediate-junior class was Match Winner with a score of 382. Teammate Comer, in the same class, was close behind with a 380. Garberoglio (CdA) shot in the junior class and would be third overall shooting a 372. Curtis Sommerfeld (Sndpt) was first in the sub-junior class narrowly beating his teammate Riley Shadel with a score of 348 to 346.
Other awards were given to Paszczynska (CdA) who was high sub-junior in the sitting and kneeling positions.
If you are interested in learning more about, or returning to, the sport of competitive rifle shooting, contact Don Jordan at (208) 610-0226.