Now that the 2007 “Camp Perry Centennial” National Matches are over, it is a good time to look back on the matches to assess what happened and to give accolades for the most outstanding performances. The biggest stars of the 2007 Matches may well have been the competitors because they came to the matches in record numbers. A total of 4,123 unique individuals participated in CMP events during the pistol, smallbore rifle and highpower rifle phases of the Matches. This number was up two percent over the 2006 total, which was the previous high for participation in all CMP National Matches events.

Seventeen different service pistol, smallbore, service rifle and military rifle events now comprise the CMP part of the National Matches. In addition to setting an overall attendance record, participation records were raised in eight events. Participation in the Pistol and Rifle Small Arms Firing Schools was limited this year due to an expected shortage of military coaches. Both schools had long waiting lists, but a last minute increase in military pistol competitors allowed many waitlisted and standby students to be accepted in that school. The result was a new Pistol Small Arms Firing School attendance record of 401 students. The six-year-old National Rimfire Sporter Match grew to a new high of 200 competitors and 255 event entries. In rifle, the Hearst Doubles match was well up over its inaugural year entries and the four CMP Games events, the M1 Carbine, Springfield, Vintage Military Rifle and John C. Garand Matches, all set records for competitors numbers.

Discussions about who were the top shooters are seldom settled with finality, but in service rifle, the Mountain Man Aggregate has become a very objective way to identify an overall champion. The Mountain Man Trophy is awarded to the shooter who fires the highest overall score in the President’s, National Trophy Individual and National Trophy Team Matches. In that trophy race, SFC Grant Singley from the Army Marksmanship Unit ranked first with 1281-55X. Army Reserve shooter 1SG Jack Pardy also scored 1281, but with 13 fewer Xs. Singley received a Bushmaster DCM-XR competition service rifle for winning the Mountain Man Trophy for overall service rifle excellence. If the scores from the new Hearst Doubles Match are added into a mythical national service rifle champion aggregate, Singley still heads the list with a total score of 1576-65X. GySgt Julia Watson, USMCR, would have been second on that list with a 1573-67X total.

In the National Trophy Pistol Matches, there is no such thing as an overall aggregate trophy that combines scores from the President’s, NTI and NTT Matches. However, if there were, GySgt Brian Zins would have been the winner by five points over the Army Marksmanship Unit’s SSG James Henderson, 971-30X to 966-36X. Zins, who also won the 2007 NRA 3-Gun Pistol Championship for an unprecedented eighth time, was second in the President’s Match with a 386-11X, second in the NTI with a 291-7X and had the high individual score in the Team Match with a 294-12X.

Top honors in the Rimfire Sporter Match would have to go to Robert Elka from Willis, Michigan. Elka won the O-Class Championship with a 575-xX and was a close second to match winner John Merges in the T-Class where he had a 582-23X total.

The Col. Bill Deneke Trophy aggregate determines the top junior service rifle shooters. This trophy recognizes a “National Junior Team” comprised of the top six junior shooters in an aggregate that includes the President’s, National Trophy Individual and Whistler Boy Team Matches. Kevin Trickett, 18, from Woburn, Massachusetts headed this list with a 1270-41X total. Daniel Atkins from Brunswick, Georgia was second ten points behind Trickett with a 1260-38X score. Trickett received a Compass Lake Engineering AR-15 competition rifle, donated by Compass Lake, for being the high overall junior shooter in this year’s National Matches.

There is also no overall junior pistol trophy, but if there were a trophy that aggregated all of the junior pistol events, Heather Deppe, 16, from Colorado Springs and San Antonio, would have forged a commanding lead over the second place junior Joe Totts, 15, from Mogadore, Ohio, 928-28X to 912-22X.

In addition to these great overall individual performances, there were several National Matches records set this year. Perhaps the most impressive of these records was the 496-22X record that SSgt Jason Benedict, USMC, set in winning the National Trophy Individual Match and the Daniel Boone Trophy. The ironic thing about this record is that the previous record of 497-21X was held by SFC Grant Singley, who fired the same X count as the new record this year, but with one less point at 496-22X.

One of the highlights of the 2007 Matches was the new President’s Rifle Match fourth or final stage for the top 20 competitors that succeeded in attracting several hundred spectators to a spectacular finish to a great match. SGT Kristopher Friend’s (USAR) dousing with a range water bucket by his teammates after he fired a 99-4X final stage to move from third into first place says volumes about how this new competition format can enhance the public presentation of service rifle shooting and showcase its best shooters. A Shooting USA television crew was there to cover this event and got some great footage. Having one event at the Nationals where all of the top shooters finish together in a setting where everyone knows who is leading and who has a chance to win offers an especially meaningful way to win a major competition and it has great potential for better promoting service rifle shooting to new shooters, sponsors and the media.

The National Trophy Rifle Matches also attracted a television star. GySgt R. Lee Ermey, host of the popular Mail Call TV show, spent three days at Camp Perry where he signed autographs and posed for dozens of photos with admirers. He also presented awards at the National Trophy Rifle Award Ceremony on 3 August.

An important tradition in the last few National Matches award ceremonies has become the presentation of Distinguished Badges to shooters who have gone Distinguished in the 12 months since the last National Matches or who go Distinguished during the current Matches. Badge pinning ceremonies are now staged at the beginning of both the National Trophy Pistol and Rifle Award Ceremonies. The winners of the President’s and National Trophy Individual Matches are invited to pin on the Badges because of their status as the most outstanding shooters of the matches. This year, eight shooters received their new Distinguished Pistol Shot Badges on stage, while 31 new Distinguished Rifleman Badges were presented on stage during the rifle ceremony.

The 2007 Camp Perry Centennial National Matches closed on 14 August after producing records for participation and some of the most exciting events ever witnessed in recent National Matches.

Complete results for the 2007 Matches are posted on the CMP website. Start at http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/matchResultSearch.cgi?designation=NATIONAL.

An impressive collection of photos taken during these matches is posted on the CMP website. Start at the index page at http://www.odcmp.com/Photos/05/Index.htm.

Now it is time to start making plans to attend the 2008 National Matches. Key dates are:

• 7 July 2008 First Shot Ceremony

• 7-8 July Pistol Small Arms Firing School

• 8-12 July NRA Pistol Championships

• 13 July CMP National Trophy Pistol Matches

• 19-24 July NRA National Smallbore Championships

• 20 July CMP National Rimfire Sporter

• 25-27 July USMC Junior Highpower Camp

• 26-27 July Rifle Small Arms Firing School

• 28Jul-1Aug National Trophy Rifle Matches

• 31Jul-2Aug CMP Games Matches

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