RIPLEY H.S. ARMY JROTC RIFLE TEAM WINS NATIONAL TITLE
Ripley High School Army JROTC rifle team is the winner of the Daisy Invitational National Air Gun Championship, held 5-7 July at Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY. In this competition, all classes of teams are invited including 4-H, American Legion, VFW, JROTC, and private clubs.
This is the first national title for the Ripley team. Members of the team were Cadet Austin Crutchfield, Chelsea Rhoads, Caitlin Townshend, and Ashley Prescott. Alternate for the team was Cory Sparks and their NRA/USAS/CMP nationally certified coach was Major Hugh T. Cook, USA (Ret.).
In the individual overall championship, Austin took 1st with a score of 1071, Chelsea took 3rd with a 1053, Caitlin took 8th with a 1019, and Ashley took 12th with a 991. In the finals [ 10 shots fired one at a time in the standing position ], Austin had a 90.6 which gave him a grand total for the match of 1161.6. Chelsea started the final in 4th place, but her 91.5 points raised her to 3rd place, only 1.2 points out of second. Caitlin had an 87.2 in the final putting her only 3 points from 7th place. It is unusual for a single team to have three of the eight spots in the final!
In the team competition, Ripley had a 4134 beating second place Homestead 4-H Shooting Club from Nebraska. After the first day of competition, Ripley was just 14 points ahead of Homestead. On the second day, the Ripley team added to their lead beating Homestead by 42 points. Homestead has dominated the national championship for many years and this is only the 2nd time in 14 years that Homestead has been defeated at the national championships.
The Ripley team could not have attended this competition without the contributions from local sponsors. These sponsors include the Tennessee Shooting Sports Association, The Bank of Ripley, Bancorp South of Henning, Ms. Pam Rhoads, and other anonymous donors.
MBA RIFLE TEAM FOURTH IN THE NATION!
Tennessee was represented at the 2009 Junior Olympic Precision Air Rifle National Championship Matches at Camp Perry, OH this past 4th of July weekend by a team from Nashville's Montgomery Bell Academy (MBA). The four man squad from MBA included Team Captain Gray Taylor, Vic Goetz, Alex Fettroll and Mitchell Lukens with alternate shooter Connor Yakushi.
The MBA Big Red team finished 4th in the nation with a combined two match score of 4573. They were just 21 points behind gold medal winner Spanish Springs High School from Nevada and only 4 points behind bronze medal winners LaCueve High School from New Mexico. California's Sutter Union High School won the silver medal with a combined score of 4589.
Fettroll, Lukens and Yakushi will be returning to the Big Red squad in the 2009-10 school year, while Goetz will be moving on to study at Bucknell University and Taylor will begin studies at Tennessee Tech where he hopes to continue his shooting career.
The MBA program has dominated high school rifle competition in the state of Tennessee for many years. The matches were conducted in the new Civilian Marksmanship Program Marksmanship Center at Camp Perry, Ohio. This is the newest air rifle range in the U.S. and is the most advanced in the country.
The Big Red team was coached by Lt. Colonel Joseph Sharbel, USMC (Ret.), a history teacher and rifle team coach at MBA. Coach Sharbel’s wife, Carrie Sharbel, is also a nationally certified coach.
SHELBY COUNTY 4-H AIR RIFLE TEAM HEADS TO NEBRASKA
Shelby County 4-H Shooting Sports Team won the Tennessee State Air Rifle Competition in the Sr. Division! The Sr. High team members are Ethan Blackstone, Jamie Arnett and Kaitlin McDonald. Ethan won 1st place high individual, Jamie won 3rd and Kaitlin won 4th. Samantha Young won 1st place high individual for the Junior division. Team members received ribbons and medals for their accomplishments. The team received an invitation to compete at the National competition.
Coaches David Waldrip, Robbie Arnett, Paul Weaver and Doug Fletcher have worked extremely hard to prepare the team for the competition by holding weekly practices. David and Robbie attended the state competition with the team! A huge thanks to our coaches for all of their time and effort they have put into the Shelby County Shooting Sports team for the past 2 years.
