Printable Version

Zerr and Sylvia Win Overall Aggregate Titles while GySgt Stephens Goes Distinguished at Western Creedmoor Cup Matches

By Steve Cooper, CMP Writer


PHOENIX, ARIZONA – Ronald Zerr, 48, of El Paso, Texas won the match rifle overall aggregate and Joel Sylvia, 40, of Hayward, California was tops in the service rifle aggregate at the Western Creedmoor Cup Matches on 24 October.

Match Director Dennis DeMille awards the Creedmoor High Power Rifle Championships Trophy to Ronald Zerr and Joel Sylvia.

Marine Corps GySgt Christopher Stephens, 39, earned his Distinguished Rifle Badge, winning eight EIC leg points. Five other shooters garnered leg points including junior Travis Burian, 18, of Surprise, Arizona, who earned an impressive 10-point leg as the high Non-Distinguished shooter in the EIC match.

Zerr, the overall match rifle winner, fired a combined aggregate score of 790-28X. Steven Powell, 30, of Ogden, Utah followed with an aggregate score of 787-26X and Keith Stephens placed third with an aggregate of 786-37X.

Sylvia fired a 785-21X aggregate for first place in service rifle with a 782-26X, and SSgt Eric Swearingen, 27, USMCR, of El Cajon, California captured second with a combined score of 782-29X and Sgt Sean Morris, 24, USMC placed third with 779-27X.

The top junior Creedmoor Aggregate shooter was Tyler Rico, 16, of Tucson, Arizona with a score of 786-26X. The top senior was Sgt Jeremy Hafenyager, USMC with a score of 747-12X and High Woman winner was Sgt Emily Windmassinger, USMC with a 778-28X aggregate. The top shooters in each classification were awarded trophy plaques.

Five days of the Creedmoor Cup Highpower Matches took place at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility located in Phoenix, Arizona.

Despite a grey, rainy start to the event, official matches at the Seventh Western Creedmoor Cup Matches held at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility near Phoenix were fired under sunny skies. Creedmoor Sports of Oceanside, California along with CMP and the Arizona State Rifle & Pistol Association hosted the event. The Creedmoor Cup events spanned Wednesday, 20 October through Sunday, 24 October.

Creedmoor Cup activities immediately followed the CMP Western Games Matches and provided some of the nation’s best highpower rifle shooters a series of prestigious national-level competitions similar to those fired at the National Matches at Camp Perry each summer and the Creedmoor Eastern Matches fired at Camp Butner, North Carolina.

Team Bushmaster’s Ken Roxburgh, a retired USMC Master Gunnery Sergeant and veteran sniper training instructor, kicked off the event with a highpower rifle shooting clinic on Wednesday, 20 October. Roxburgh’s energetic style and detail-oriented curriculum fall directly from his many years of Marine Corps instruction. The clinic provided attendees with lecture, demonstration, dry-fire activities and plenty of hands-on coaching from some of the finest military and civilian shooters in the nation.

After about an hour rain delay on Thursday, shooters took advantage of a National Match course practice match, giving them an opportunity to tune their skills with 10 shots standing at 200 yards, 10 shots sitting rapid-fire at 200 yards, 10 shots prone rapid-fire at 300 yards and 20 shots prone slow-fire at 600 yards. Competitors were also given sighters at each distance.

USMC Gold Team captured the Service Rifle Team Match during the Western Creedmoor Cup Matches.

In the first official match on Friday, the Four-Man Team Match, USMC Gold shot an aggregate score of 1942-57X to win the service rifle class. Firing members of the team were Sgt Sean Morris, Sgt Emily Windmassinger, 24, Cpl Jared Litke, 23, and Cpl Joshua Martin, 23. The team was captained by GySgt Joseph Kennedy, and coached by GySgt Christopher Stephens.

The course of fire was the National Match Course Team Match fired at 200, 300 and 600 yards.

The MCRD Gold team of Sgt Victor Armenta, 26, Sgt Mark Windmassinger, 24, Sgt Brent Payne, 26 and Capt Guillermo Sandoval, 32, took second place honors with a 1935-51X. MCRD Gold was captained by Sgt Armenta and coached by Capt Sandoval.

Tucson Rifle Club Black placed third with an aggregate score of 1891-44X. The team was captained by Jeffrey Schneider, 59, of Tucson, Arizona and coached by Cecil Rico, 52, of Tucson. Firing members of the team were Schneider and Rico along with SFC Robert Pirisky (ARNG), 48, of Tucson, and Raphael Fimbres, 38, of Tucson.

Greg Kantorovich, Creedmoor Vice President, awarded the match rifle team winner, 4 Guys, with trophy plaques during the Creedmoor Cup awards ceremony.

The match rifle team winner was 4 Guys, consisting of Neil Jensen, 50, of North Las Vegas, Dennis DeMille, 45, of Oceanside, California, Kory Woodbury, 43,of St. George, Utah and Bill Fairless, 56, of Vienna, Illinois. Jensen served as captain and coach and the team fired an aggregate score of 1912-54X for the win.

The match rifle team winner was 4 Guys, consisting of Neil Jensen, 50, of North Las Vegas, Dennis DeMille, 45, of Oceanside, California, Kory Woodbury, 43,of St. George, Utah and Bill Fairless, 56, of Vienna, Illinois. Jensen served as captain and coach and the team fired an aggregate score of 1912-54X for the win.

Daddy Warbucks, captained and coached by Royal Hubert, 63, of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, placed third with a score of 1853-25X. Firing members were Royal and Matthew Hubert, 41, of Lake Havasu City, William Ellis, 46, of Slough, England and Girolamo Gino Guarna, 72, of Henderson, Nevada.

The Team Individual Aggregate top four finishers were Neil Jensen (498-23X), Dennis DeMille (496-19X), Keith Stephens (495-17X) and Sgt Victor Armenta USMC (493-16X).

On Saturday competitors fired the Creedmoor Cup 800 (80-Shot) Aggregate Match, fired in both match and service rifle. Competitors fired 200 yards standing, 200 yards sitting rapid-fire, 300 yards prone rapid-fire and 600 yards prone slow-fire.

Creedmoor Sports concluded the day's events with a barbecue co-sponsored by Remington and awards ceremony and provided an outstanding array of shooting sports prizes. Remington, Bushmaster, Krieger, Creedmoor Sports, Doug Giraud, Hornady and Kowa Optical were major sponsor of the 2010 Western Creedmoor Cup Matches as they donated items for raffle prizes to raise money for the M1 for Vets Program.

Shooters closed the competition on Sunday, 24 October with the Creedmoor Excellence-In-Competition 500-point Individual Match - a National Match Course with 10 shots, 200 yards slow-fire standing, 10 shots, 200 yards rapid-fire standing to sitting, 10 shots, 300 yards rapid-fire, standing to prone and 20 shots at 600 yards slow-fire prone.

Distinguished rifle shooters Joel Sylvia, GySgt Eric Swearingen, USMCR and GySgt Justin Skaret USMCR, 36, of Tucson took first through third place with scores of 494-22X, 492-19X and 491-13X, respectively.

A total of six EIC leg medals were awarded during the Creedmoor EIC Match. In addition to Travis Burian’s 10-point leg, GySgt Christopher Stephens earned eight leg points, firing a 478-9X; Michael Huffaker, 49, of Laguna Hills, California earned eight points, shooting a 477-13X; and the following shooters earned six leg points each: EO2 Chris Funderburg, 21, USN (474-14X), Shawn Bharadwaj, 17, of Carlsbad, California (469-11X) and Jeffrey Schneider (469-11X).

For complete results of the Creedmoor Cup Matches and CMP Western Games, log onto http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/report_matchResult.cgi?matchID=6118. Photos from the Creedmoor Cup Matches are posted at http://cmp1.zenfolio.com/p854886970.

The 2011 Eastern CMP Games and Creedmoor Cup Matches at Camp Butner, North Carolina are scheduled to take place on 7-15 May. The official program for those matches is slated for release in the next two to three months. The dates for the 2011 Western CMP Games and Creedmoor Cup Matches are 14-23 October.

More information about Creedmoor Sports, Inc. is available on their website at http://www.creedmoorsports.com/store/home.php. Information about the Ben Avery Shooting Facility is available at http://www.azgfd.gov/outdoor_recreation/ben_avery.shtml.

NEXT ARTICLE