March 22nd and 23rd saw the Navy establish a unique presence at Ft. Benning, Georgia. As most readers know, Ft. Benning is one of the largest and most active Army bases in the United States. As the home of the U. S. Army Marksmanship Unit, it has some of the finest shooting facilities in the country. It was these facilities that brought the best Navy JROTC air rifle shooters from around the country to compete for Navy JROTC Championship awards and see who would qualify to stand shoulder to shoulder with the best JROTC shooters the Army and Marine Corps had to offer in the JROTC Three Position Air Rifle National Championship to be held on March 25th and 26th.
Selection for the Navy match began at the region level. Some regions fired shoulder to shoulder matches and some selected their Navy JROTC Championship representatives by using SecNav Air Rifle Postal scores. In total, 141 Navy JROTC cadets representing twenty-eight different NJROTC units stepped to the firing line at Fort Benning. They came from all over the country, with one team leaving the winter of Chugiak, Alaska to enjoy the southern spring of Columbus, Georgia.
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| Brunswick HS, GA won the top spot in the Precision Team
category. |
But the team from Brunswick High School, Georgia earned special accolades for dealing with a difficult travel schedule. Six hours away, on the coast, the Brunswick team had to participate in state high school testing on the same day they were scheduled to fire at Fort Benning. They completed their first day’s testing, drove six hours to Fort Benning and began firing their match
right after they arrived. As soon as they finished, they piled into their van and drove
back to Brunswick for a second day of testing. Despite the pressure of state-mandated testing and a long trip right before they fired their match, the Brunswick High School NJROTC took top honors in the precision team category, and a spot in the Nationals, with a team score of 2284.
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| Zion-Benton HS, IL was the top Sporter Team with a score of 2066. |
In the sporter team event, the team from Zion-Benton High School, Illinois bested all others with their score of 2066. The team that finished third in the sporter team event, Eagle’s Landing High School, Georgia, was an all freshmen team. Good things are expected from this team as they progress through high school.
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| Christina Schade of Chugiak HS took a one point lead to finish first in the Precision Individual
Category. |
The individual Navy JROTC championship in the precision category was won by Christina Schade of Chugiak High School, Alaska. Christina fired a 580 three-position total on her way to the top of the leader board, but her victory was not easy. Only one point separated the top three precision shooters.
In second and third with identical 579 scores were Cody Stevens and Jessica Ray,
both from Brunswick HS, GA.
The competition for the sporter individual championship was also close. Jerome Cleveland of Patuxent High School, Maryland, prevailed by one point over the second place finisher Jesse Burnett of McDowell High School, North Carolina, 532 to 531.
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| The top Sporter Individual was Jerome Cleveland of Patuxent HS, MD with a score of 532. |
The Navy Championship was concluded with an awards banquet. The guest speaker was Staff Sergeant Jason Parker, a member of the Army Marksmanship Unit International Rifle Team. Parker is the current world record holder in the men’s air rifle event as well as the reigning World Champion in that event. Parker told the students about how he started his career as a JROTC cadet just like all of them. He highlighted the experiences that he felt helped him become a World Champion from when he began his shooting career as a member of a high school JROTC rifle team to this year when he is preparing for the U. S. Olympic Team Trials and Olympic Games.
This year’s competition was the second Navy JROTC Air Rifle Championship. Last year’s event was held at Millington Naval Air Station near Memphis, Tennessee. All of the scores and final standings both the individual and team competition in this year’s 2004 championship are posted on our website. |
