Posted on 03/01/2018 6:30:09 AM PST by SandRat
TOMBSTONE — Two local Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps rifle teams have qualified for the National Junior Olympic Air Rifle Meet in Port Clinton, Ohio, this coming June.
Buena High School JROTC and Tombstone High School JROTC
sent rifle teams to the qualifying meet on Saturday at the Ben Avery Shooting facility in Phoenix. Both JROTC teams qualified for the national competition.
Buena finished second overall with a score of 2104, while Tombstone finished fourth at 2096. To qualify for the national competition, a team must shoot a combined 2025 out of 2400.
“Cochise County was well-represented, with two teams competing and qualifying for the national tournament this summer,” said Tombstone coach Tom Gross, who is also a retired chief warrant officer 4 of the U.S. Army. “There are about seven teams that qualify for regional and national tournaments every year from this part of the state.
“Looking at the distribution of teams on the national scale, southern Arizona may be the strongest area in the nation when it comes to shooting.”
The shooters for Buena were Demetrius Carrasco, Jonathan Mallett, Taweekhoon Veerapong and Avery Eichelberger.
The Tombstone shooters were Abigail Uterhardt, Jadan Olson, Xavier Keeling and Alainna Barber.
Three of the top five shooters at the event were from Cochise County, Gross said. Uterhardt tied for first with a 543 out of a possible 600, Carrasco was third with a 541, and Olson finished fifth with a 535.
When interviewed about Saturday’s meet, Keeling said he felt the team shot very well.
“I did not shoot my personal best, but overall our team did better than I was expecting,” he said. “I was really happy about qualifying for the nationals.”
In 2001, the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) started recognizing top junior shooters by awarding the Junior Distinguished Shooter Badge, Gross said.
“To earn the badge, shooters must accumulate 30 Excellence in Shooting points, including at least 10 in national-level competitions,” he said. “Going into Saturday’s meet, Abigail Uterhardt already had 26 points, and earned four more at the meet.”
Once the CMP has an opportunity to verify Uterhardt’s points, she will be awarded the Junior Distinguished Shooter Badge, Gross said. Currently, 1,248 badges have been awarded nationwide, or fewer than 70 a year.
“It’s a great accomplishment,” Gross said.
When asked if she gets nervous during the meets, Uterhardt admitted that nerves were a problem when she first started shooting with the team, but said it’s no longer an issue.
Shooters are required to compete in three different positions: prone, kneeling and standing, Uterhardt said.
“We can earn a possible 200 points for each position, with 600 points as a perfect score. To qualify for the nationals, an individual shooter must receive at least 525 out of the possible 600,” she said.
Alainna Barber, a sophomore, started shooting 18 months ago as a freshman with the Tombstone JROTC program.
“This is more fun than I was expecting it to be,” she said. “Our team will be going to Utah for the Civilian Marksmanship Program regional championship in April, and then to the nationals.”
While Gross confirmed that the Tombstone team will be competing in both the Utah meet and at Port Clinton in June, the Buena JROTC instructor could not be reached for comment.
“I’m sure Buena will be sending their team as well,” Gross said. “We’re fortunate to have two teams from Cochise County represented in these competitions.”
[Two local Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps rifle teams have qualified for the National Junior Olympic Air Rifle Meet in Port Clinton, Ohio, this coming June.]
Would the 18 year old gun ban make this an illegal activity?
I’m wondering the same thing. If you can’t buy a gun until you’re 21, would that lead to not being allowed to use a gun until you’re 21? What would that do to the Boy Scouts and JROTC/ROTC and the Olympics and the military?
Uh-oh. Don’t be surprised if the libs get hysterical about this and start a campaign against ROTC. I was in JROTC in the 60s.We had rifle teams. We drilled with old M1 Garands. We had no school shootings. Neither did the other schools. A very different(and better) time then.
These are BB guns.
Big, irrelevant deal!! Some libtard will start screaming that they look like a pop-tart with a couple of bites removed -- and that's all that will be required to start the leftists' brain-dead followers on a month-long paroxysm of protest...
Air rifle
No, they are not. If they are using 10 meter rifles they are probably ~7-12 ft/lb and running around 650-700 fps. If they are using American Airgun Field Target Assoc (AAFTA) level rifles they’re max 20 ft/lb and run up to just under 1000 fps. They shoot lead pellets.
Heavier calibers and muzzle energy air rifles have taken most if not all North American big game types.
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