The Washington State Junior Indoor Rifle Championships took place at the Spokane and Tacoma ranges on March 9. Kootenai Valley Jr Rifle team member, Kyalynn Comer traveled to the Spokane range to participate. This match was 120 shots, taking 40 shots in each of the prone, kneeling and standing positions. A single shot .22 rifle was used at a distance of 50 feet. To score a ten, a shooter must hit a dot, about the size of the period at the end of this sentence using iron sights.
Comer scored a 1044 out of the 1200 possible and place eighth out of the 43 participants from the two ranges. In her first year in the intermediate class, 15–17-year-olds, she placed fifth out of 28. Using her average score, from previous matches, placed her in the A Class, where she was fourth of 14 and second in the kneeling position.
The following weekend, the three position Open Rifle Sectional was held at the Kootenai Valley Range, with 21 shooters from Coeur d’Alene (CdA), Sandpoint (Spt), the Bonners Ferry area (KV), and Troy, Montana (Troy), taking on the challenge. Shooting the same course of fire as Comer did the previous weekend, the only difference being that either scoped rifles or iron sights were allowed.
Coming out on top was Greg Mead (KV) with a score of 1077. Ron Shadel (Spt) took second with a 1053 and Emily Rabello (CdA) was third with a 1031, narrowly beating junior Salix Harris (Troy) who scored 1030 and was first in the Sharpshooter class.
The Marksman class had the most shooters with 12 of the13 being under the age of 18. Daphne Garberoglio (CdA) was first scoring with a 1021. Paige Sartell (KV) finished in second place with a 978, followed by teammate Ilena Wenzel with a 969. Alora Rasor (Spt) was close behind with a 964.
Match winners in the three positions were Mead for prone, scoring 388 of the 400 possible, Rabello for standing with a 325 and Don Jordan (KV) for kneeling with a 374.
The team of Mead, Harris, Jordan, and Comer would best the Sandpoint team of Ron Shadel, Gabriel Lester, and Rasor and Carson Shadel, with a score of 4113 to 3985.
A match on April 6 in Sandpoint will end the indoor rifle season for local shooters. They will then head outside for matches in Spokane and Missoula. If you are interested in learning more about, or returning to, the sport of smallbore rifle shooting, please contact Don Jordan at (208)610-0226.
See you on the range!