Double Victory for Member of Hearst Doubles Winning Team
By Sommer Wood, CMP Writer
In the Hearst Doubles Team Match, team members must depend on each other for coaching as non-firing coaches are not allowed on the firing line.
The 2010 National Trophy Matches have been pretty good for SGT Tyrel Cooper of the Army Marksmanship Unit (AMU), he won his first National Trophy Individual (NTI) title on 3 August and doubled his trophy count the next day when paired with SSG Brandon Green for the Hearst Doubles Match. Both have won the NTI, SSG Green in 2006, but neither has been on the winning team for the Hearst Doubles. They have both come close to adding their names to the William Randolph Hearst Trophy, finishing as high as second when paired with different AMU teammates.
In the Hearst Doubles, two-person teams fire the President’s 30-shot course of fire. This means both team members fire 10-shots standing at 200-yards, 10-shots rapid fire prone at 300-yards and 10-shots slow fire prone at 600-yards. AMU coaches carefully select firing pairs, trying to match teammates who will create a winning combination. It can be tricky because not every personality type or shooting style is going to mesh. Though the decision to pair SGT Cooper and SSG Green was not too difficult for the AMU coaching staff; the combo had already fired seven pairs matches together this season.
SSG Green and SGT Cooper shot 296-15 and 295-16 respectively to combine for a 591-31. AMU teammates SGT Sherri Gallagher and SPC Kevin Trickett finished second with a 588-17. In fact four of the top six teams in the match were from the Army Marksmanship Unit.
The majority of the juniors at Camp Perry participated in the National Trophy Junior Team Match, which was held the same day, but a few juniors did enter the Hearst event. The top junior team in the match consisted of Joshua Hovis from Cochranton, Pennsylvania, and Karl Yauneridge from Portage, Pennsylvania. The pair combined to shoot a 547-10.
A total of 306 teams competed in the 2010 Hearst Doubles Team Match.
The Hearst Doubles also features a handicap match, which operates much like a handicap system used for other sports like golf. This system calculates additional points to team totals (a handicap) based off of averages shot in previous matches by the participants. This system awards shooters who shoot above their average. The top team in the Hearst handicapped results was comprised of MSgt Shawn Bearden and Capt Justin Davis of the Army National Guard who finished with a 599-3 once the handicap was added to their score.
Complete results for the Hearst Doubles Match can be found at,
http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/report_eventAward.cgi?matchID=5690&eventID=12&awardID=1, and photos for the 2010 National Trophy Matches can be found at
http://cmp1.zenfolio.com/.