Junior Olympic Precision Championship
Heats Up in Corvette City

From high above the shooters, the size of the facility at Western Kentucky University is evident. Seventy-four firing points were created for two relays each of the two days of competition.

Bowling Green, Kentucky is best known for two things: being the home of the Chevrolet Corvette and the Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers. On July 13th, it became the center of the most important junior three-position air rifle competition in the United States as the National Junior Olympic Three-Position Air Rifle Championships came to a close.

The precision three-position event had much to live up to after the sporter event produced a new national record score fired by the Homestead 4-H Team from Beatrice, Nebraska on their way to the sporter division championship. And while there were no national records set, competition was close and exciting throughout. Up and down the seventy-four point firing line on both relays, the chance for a new national record was there with the top young shooters in the country in attendance.

Joseph Hall of the Wolf Creek Shooting Club in Atlanta, Georgia earned the gold medal in the precision event with a score of 1285. Hall’s effort helped secure the club team championship for his team.

At the top of the leaderboard going into the final was Joseph Hall of the Wolf Creek Shooting Club in Atlanta, Georgia. His brother John was close behind in third place with Nikita Dees of Chilton County, Alabama separating them in second place. With a five point lead going into the final, Joseph Hall secured his gold medal by firing a perfect 100 score in the ten-shot standing final event. There was some movement in the ranks during the final with Troy Casalone gaining points to force a sudden death tie-breaker between himself and Jonothan Hall with the bronze medal at stake. Hall’s score of ten on the tie breaking shot bested Casalone’s nine and sealed the one and three spots for the Hall brothers. Also firing in the final were Andrew Roland of Washington County, Oregon, Ty Freeze of the Davenport Junior Rifle Club in Washington state, Troy Casalone of the Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, Tennessee, Jason Dardas of the Riverside Shooting Club in Michigan and Melissa Lussier of the Blue Trail Range Junior Shooting Club in Connecticut.

The scholastic team from St. Louis University High School in St. Louis, Missouri poses with the CMP “Tatanka” Buffalo Trophy they earned as the top scholastic team in the Junior Olympic National Championship. Their alternate, Joe Reinders also earned the top placed tops among shooters participating in the “out-of-competition” category.

In the team championships, it was the team from St. Louis University High School in St. Louis, Missouri who took top scholastic precision honors and the CMP “Tatanka” Buffalo Trophy. Firing members Kevin Witbrodt, Bryan Carlin, Brian Nienhaus and Patrick Zelaya fired an aggregate score of 4610 to win by thirteen points over the Chilton County Blue Team from Alabama. In the club team category, the Wolf Creek Shooting Club team, of which Joseph and Jon Hall are members, earned the gold medal with a forty-nine point margin of victory over the Washington County Junior Rifle Club from Oregon. Firing members of the Wolf Creek team are Joseph and John Hall, Phillip Huckaby and Jeremy Drennan.

For complete results on 2004 National Junior Olympic Three-Position Air Rifle Championship at Bowling Green go to http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/report_matchResult.cgi?matchID=366.

The top eight shooters after two days of competition compete in the standing ten shot final held at the end of day two. This final format tests the abilities of these shooters to excel under the pressure of being watched by all the spectators.

Precision shooters fire from the prone position on day one of the Junior Olympic Championship event. Individual shooters and teams qualified in state qualifier matches to be eligible to attend this most prestigious of air rifle events.

Nikita Dees of Chilton County, Alabama finished the competition with a score of 1275 to earn second place and a gold medal.

E.A. Diddle Arena on the Western Kentucky University campus in Bowling Green, Kentucky was the site of the 2004 National Junior Olympic Three Position Championship held July 11th-13th. The auxiliary gym in the arena offered the perfect facility for this event.

John Hall, brother of gold medalist Joseph Hall, and also of the Wolf Creek Shooting Club, fired a ten in a sudden death shootoff to secure the bronze medal.