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NEBRASKA 4-H TEAM DOMINATES
JUNIOR OLYMPIC SPORTER


The Homestead 4-H Shooting Club from Beatrice Nebraska won the National Junior Olympic Club Team Championship and set a new national record for sporter teams. Shown in the photo are (l. to r.) coach Mike Jochum, Sarah Broeker, Jace Bures, Clint Sejkora, Micaela Jochum and coach Nancy Jochum.
The leading team in the 2004 National Junior Olympic Three-Position Air Rifle Championship was the Homestead 4-H Shooting Club from Beatrice Nebraska. The Nebraska team’s rise to the top is part of a dramatic change in which parts of the country produce the best sporter class three-position air rifle shooters. Just two or three years ago, most winning sporter shooters hailed came from the southeast U. S. In the 2004 championship seven of the top eight individuals came from the Plains states of Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas, Oklahoma and Minnesota, while only one came from a southern state, Louisiana.

The Homestead club dominated this year’s competition by winning the Sporter Club Team title with the best overall team score of the championship, a 4358 X 4800. Three Homestead shooters took the first three individual places. On the way to their team victory, the Nebraska 4-H club raised their own national team record on the second day of competition by firing a 2192. That is a 548 average per shooter!

Homestead junior Jace Bures won the individual sporter championship with an excellent 549 + 556 + 87 final.
The National Junior Olympic competition has become the major three-position air rifle national championship in the U. S. Any school-age junior can compete in the state qualifying competitions that take place in the spring. Winning state club and scholastic teams qualify for the nationals. Individuals qualify by being members of a state champion team or they also can qualify at-large if their state championship score places in the top 30 individuals nationwide.

All 50 states had 2004 state qualifying competitions and 42 of the 50 states were represented at the National Junior Olympics. 151 individuals and 36 teams competed in the sporter class events while 135 individuals and 29 teams competed in the precision class events that followed. The championship took place at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky on July 8-10. CMP State Junior Director in Kentucky Joe Tinsley headed the local organizing committee that provided a splendid facility and outstanding support. Martin Edmondson, USA Shooting Youth Development Director, was the Match Director and the CMP’s Sheri Judd was the Results Director for the match.

Individual sporter champion Jace Bures shooting in the standing position.
Jace Bures, a 17-year-old member of the Homestead 4-H team from Odell, Nebraska recovered from a disappointing loss in the National Guard Bureau Junior Tournament in June by taking an impressive win in this competition. At the National Guard championship, Bures took a four-point lead into the final only to have Blake Phillips of Bogalusa, Louisiana tie him by the end of the final and then beat him on a sudden-death tie-breaking shot. At Bowling Green, Bures fired daily scores of 549 and 556 to go into the final with an 11-point lead. This time he and his teammate, 16-year-old Clint Sejkora shot 87s, the best scores in the final and then finished one-two.

The third Homestead 4-H shooter in the final, 14-year-old Michaela Jochum, started the final in fifth place and advanced to third place on the strength of another strong final. Homestead shooters finished 1-2-3. All three fired Daisy M888 CO2 air rifles. Overall, there were four M888s, three Daisy Valiants and one Daisy M753 in the hands of the eight finalists. There were four boys and four girls among the eight sporter finalists.

Bogalusa High School (LA) won the scholastic sporter team title. Team members were William Cleland, Blake Phillips, Charles Henley and Tucker Lee.
In the team competition, Homestead 4-H Shooting Sports won the club team event and had the highest overall team score in the championship, 4358. The Homestead team included Bures, Sejkora, Jochum and Sarah Broeker. The Homestead coaches are Nebraska CMP State Junior Directors Mike and Nancy Jochum. The Bogalusa, Louisiana High School Army JROTC Team coached by Rick Fredieu and comprised of William Cleland, Blake Phillips, Charles Henley and Tucker Lee won the scholastic team championship with a score of 4272.

Complete results for the 2004 National Junior Olympic Three-Position Air Rifle Championship at Bowling Green are posted at http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/report_matchResult.cgi?matchID=366.
The top eight individual sporter class shooters in the order of finish (l. to r.) are Jace Bures, NE; Clint Sejkora, NE; Micaela Jochum, NE; Holly Coldman, SD; William Cleland, LA; Jennifer Reuss, KS, Michael Ward, OK and Keely Stankey, MN.