The U. S. Army Rifle Team, designated as USAMU Praslick after the name of their coach, Staff Sergeant Emil Praslick III, produced a dominating win in the National Trophy Team Match with a 30-point victory over the second place team that represented the U. S. Marine Corps. The Marine team was designated as USMC Abbott; their coach was Gunnery Sergeant Rodney Abbott.
The National Trophy Team Match is the most prestigious team trophy that can be won in any U. S. rifle competition. The U. S. Congress provided the trophy when it established the National Matches in 1903. In the 103 years the trophy has been in competition, it has been the object of fierce rivalries between the Army, Marine Corps, All National Guard, U. S. Army Reserves and other active and reserve military teams.
The National Trophy Team Match has six person teams, with each firing member shooting the National Match Course with no sighters. The shooters pair fire in slow fire standing and prone and shoot the rapid fire series one-at-a-time. The work of the coach is especially critical in team competitions because he must determine all the wind corrections for each of the shooters.
The Army shot a score of 2931-105x to the Marines 2901-97x. The match was close until the teams reached the 600 yard line. The Army gained a five point lead in the 200 yard standing stage, picked up five additional points in sitting rapid fire. In the third 300-yard prone rapid fire series, the Marines cut the Army’s lead back to five points. At 600 years, the Army team put on a dominating performance, gaining 25 points over the Marine team to produce their final 30 point victory margin. In addition to Praslick, members of the Army team were SSG Jason St. John, Team Captain, and firing members SFC Norman Anderson, SFC Lance Hopper, SFC Lance Dement, SFC Kyle Ward, SSG Tobie Tomlinson and PFC Brandon Green. Green, a former sporter three-position air rifle national champion, fired as the “tyro” or new shooter.
This victory adds to the list of victories SFC Norman Anderson earned this past week at the National Matches. SFC Anderson fired a 491-16X and was the top firing member of the USAMU Praslick team. Earlier in the week, he won the President’s Rifle Match and the National Trophy Rifle Individual Match, a rare double victory in the National Trophy Matches two most prestigious individual events. His score in the National Trophy Team Match also gave him the Mountain Man Trophy that is awarded to the shooter with the highest overall aggregate score in the President’s, National Trophy Individual and National Trophy Team Matches.
The top Civilian team in the match was the Pennsylvania Rifle and Pistol Association team that was coached by William Gelet. They shot a 2887-70x and finished forth overall. The top junior team was Colorado Blue Flames BRC who fired a 2806-50x and finished 27th overall. There were 60 teams firing in competition and 15 teams firing out-of competition in the match. For complete results go to http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/report_eventAward.cgi?matchID=827&eventID=5&awardID=1. For pictures go to http://www.odcmp.com/Photos/05/NTT/index.htm
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