From the 2nd to the 12th of July, nearly 700 of the country’s best junior air rifle and air pistol shooters and their coaches competed in a series of major national junior air rifle championships at Bowling Green, Kentucky. The 2007 Daisy Air Rifle Championship, National Junior Olympic Three-Position Air Rifle Championship and USA Shooting Progressive Position Pistol Championship all took place on the beautiful campus of Western Kentucky University. The matches were highlighted by 17-year-old Michaela Jochum’s double victory in the Daisy and Junior Olympic sporter class events, by 17-year-old Ethan Settlemires’ close win over a strong field in the Junior Olympic precision class competition and by overall best Junior Olympic team scores posted by R. L. Paschal High School in sporter and the DuBois Junior Rifle Team in precision.

The Daisy Junior Air Rifle Championship is an open competition that follows their National BB Gun Championship. The Daisy competition features two days of three-position shooting with a final on the second day and with competitors divided into sporter and precision classes. The Daisy match also serves as a warm-up for the Junior Olympic Sporter Championship that followed. The Junior Olympic Championship is the National Three-Position Air Rifle Council’s National Junior Position Air Rifle Championship. The U. S. Olympic governing body, USA Shooting, and the Civilian Marksmanship Program conduct this competition. To compete in the National Junior Olympics shooters must first qualify in a State Junior Olympic match. The USA Shooting Progressive Position Air Pistol Championship that occupied three days in the schedule between the Sporter and Precision Class Junior Olympic Championships followed the Junior Olympic Sporter Championship. The last Championship was the National Junior Olympic Precision Class Championship. Both Junior Olympic competitions also featured two days of individual and team competition with a final on the second day.

While temperatures outside were a scorching 90 degrees plus, competitors and coaches enjoyed the luxury of air conditioning in the Diddle Arena at Western Kentucky University. Its huge multi-purpose gym was set up with a temporary 75-point air gun range. In the Daisy Junior Open Air Gun Championship, Micaela Jochum of Beatrice, Nebraska blew everyone away by combining a first day 567 with a second day 563 and a 91.7 final to win the gold medal in sporter class with an outstanding score of 1221.7. Jochum competed with the Homestead 4-H Shooting Club. The silver medal was awarded to Lauren Strebel of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, a member of Palmyra Junior Rifle Team, who fired a total score of 1195.2. Strebel’s score included an impressive 95.2 Final. The bronze medal went to Noel Maxwell with a total score of 1190.5. Maxwell is a member of the Corvette City Shooting Team in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

17-year-old Keely Stankey from Minneapolis, Minnesota topped the precision class shooters by combining a first day 584 with a 587 on the second day with a 99.2 final to total 1269.2 and a three point margin over second place Alivia Yeager from Louisville, Kentucky. Stankey represented the Minneapolis Rifle Club; Yeager shot for Shelby County High School. The Homestead 4-H Shooting Club topped the sporter teams with a two-day 4343 x 4800 total. St. Louis University High School was the leading precision class team with a 4562 total.

Complete results for the Daisy Junior Air Rifle Championship are posted at http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/report_matchResult.cgi?matchID=2291.

Michaela Jochum produced another dominating performance in the National Junior Olympic Sporter Championship. She led all competitors the first day with a 568. Her 554 second day score was second to Kelsea Hunt’s 563 on the next day. Jochum had a 10-point lead going into the final and fired an impressive 94.1 to finish with a 17.7 point victory. Hunt qualified for the National Junior Olympics while competing for the Ozark High School Army JROTC rifle team. There are two team divisions in the Junior Olympic Championship, Scholastic and Club. Homestead 4-H Shooting Club from Beatrice, Nebraska was the top Club team with a 4311 total. R. L. Paschal High School from Fort Worth, Texas won the Scholastic Trophy and had the highest overall team total with a 4332.

Complete results for the National Junior Olympic Sporter Class Championship are posted at http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/report_matchResult.cgi?matchID=2485.  Pictures can be viewed at http://www.odcmp.com/Photos/07/BG/index.htm. 

Outstanding results were also produced in the USA Shooting Progressive Air Pistol Championship. The event was comprised of two divisions, A and B, which are then broken into categories according to the competitor’s age and skill level. The categories are One-Handed Unsupported, Two-Handed Unsupported, Advanced Supported, Basic Supported and Youth Basic. This system allows the shooters to advance through the categories as they develop strength and coordination needed in pistol shooting. Earning first place in the One-Handed Unsupported category was Cody Owsley of Tonganoxie, Kansas with an aggregate score of 853. Owsley combined a 380 from the first day with a 376 on the second day, then added an incredible 97 Final to win. Like the other events at Bowling Green, the Progressive Pistol Championship also had a team division. In the Unsupported category X-Ring Junior Shooters from Tonganoxie, Kansas took first place with a 2216 aggregate. Kelly Owsley coached the team; firing members were Cody Owsley, 756, Anthony Lutz, 742 and Ryan Benteman, 718.

Complete results for the USA Shooting Progressive Position Air Pistol Championship are posted at http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/report_matchResult.cgi?matchID=2567.

The National Junior Olympic Air Rifle Precision Class Championship that concluded the 11-day competition schedule at Bowling Green also had an impressive turnout, even attracting the attention of several college coaches. Three relays were needed to accommodate the large number of competitors. This made for two long days of competition for all involved, but did not keep competitors from producing high scores and exceptionally close competition for individual and team honors.

Michael Kulbacki, 17, from DuBois, Pennsylvania and Ethan Settlemires, 17, from Walmut, Mississippi led all competitors with 592 three-position totals on the first day. Emily Holsopple, 15, also from DuBois, was just one point back at 591. The top 10 shooters all fired scores of 587 or higher. On the second day, 14 competitors fired 587 or higher. The top scores of 591 were posted by Abigail Stanec, 15, from Wadsworth, Ohio and Andrea Dardas, 16, from Essexville, Michigan. This set the stage for an extremely exciting final where only five points separated all eight shooters in the final. Settlemires and Kulbacki started the final tied at 1180 and Holsopple was just one point behind at 1179. In the final, Settlemires fired a 100.0 to gain a one-point victory over Kulbacki who fired a 99.0. Ethan Settlemires represented the Cross Roads Sport Shooting 4-H club that won the Mississippi State Junior Olympic Championship to win his first major national three-position air rifle title.

Complete results for the National Junior Olympic Precision Class Championship are posted at http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/report_matchResult.cgi?matchID=2485.

The Bowling Green competitions were fired on paper targets that were scored with the Orion electronic scoring system. This significantly reduced the number of volunteers needed to conduct the competition. Each championship was capped off with an awards ceremony and pizza party. USA Shooting and the CMP express their thanks to all of the volunteers who worked as range officers or who assisted with the conduct of the different championships. A special thank-you goes to the CMP State Junior Director in Kentucky, Joe Tinsley, for making a myriad of arrangements to assure the success of the competitions.

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