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AMU’s Roe, Sherry Lead 2021 National Matches Smallbore Events

CAMP PERRY, Ohio – SPC Ivan Roe, 25, of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (AMU) was the leading scorer of the Three-Position Aggregate Smallbore competition, held during the annual National Matches at Camp Perry. The event was facilitated by the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP), which began its smallbore match series back in 2018.

Though a recent addition to the CMP National Matches schedule, smallbore has been a staple at Camp Perry for decades – welcoming thousands of competitors over the years. For Roe, 2021 marked his very first experience competing in smallbore on the historical National Guard base.

Bremen Butler led the Junior Three-Position Aggregate at the National Matches.

“I really had no expectations,” he said of his first trip to Camp Perry. “Every day I got down, it was, ‘What’s going to happen today?’ It’s been a learning experience the entire time.”

Known for its inconsistent (to put it gently) conditions, Camp Perry challenged Roe in ways he didn’t anticipate.

In 2021, the Smallbore Small Arms Firing School appeared at Camp Perry for the second time and was led by SSF Gray (pictured) and other members of the AMU.

“I was told to prepare for it to be unbelievably windy,” he explained. “The first day was nuts – I’ve never been blown around in prone before. That was something completely new. They told me it was going to be windy but I wasn’t ready for how windy, exactly – but, I made it work.”

Outside of Three-Position, Roe also led the Prone Elimination event. With many of his teammates on the firing line next to him during the match, he admitted that it turned out to be more of an enjoyable competition rather than the high-pressure feeling of other matches.

“I was still, definitely, nervous – especially towards the end. But, I just focused and went for it,” he said. “It was a lot of fun.”

Roe also claimed the Prone Elimination Match victory while enjoying time shooting with his teammates.

The National Matches Smallbore events were fired July 20 through July 28 and featured both Three-Position and Prone competitions. Along with age category awards in both Three-Position and Prone, overall competitors were recognized for their achievements.

Leading the Prone 6400 Aggregate was Roe’s teammate SGT Timothy Sherry, 27, with an overall score of 6393-550X. Sherry also led the Prone Iron Sight Championship, while fellow AMU member SPC Levi Clark, 23, claimed the Prone Any Sight Match.

SGT Tim Sherry obtained the win in the Smallbore Prone 6400 Aggregate event and other prone awards.

The CMP Smallbore series kicked off with a Small Arms Firing School (SAFS), conducted by members of the AMU.

“It was great to be back for our Smallbore SAFS,” said the AMU’s International Rifle assistant team chief, SSF Hank Gray, who led the clinic. “It was only our second one, ever. We had a great turnout though – a full firing line and great shooters. I think everyone had a great time.”

Ryan and Tyler Wee were the winners of the two-person Freedom’s Fire event.

Over 20 junior athletes participated in the SAFS course, ranging in a spectrum of experience levels, with some firing a smallbore rifle for the first time during the day-long event. Participants in SAFS were able to bring their own equipment or rent from the CMP if without a rifle to use.

Though some AMU Smallbore athletes were absent for the 2021 SAFS at Camp Perry (off competing at the Olympic Games in Tokyo), SSF Gray brought other talented members of the team to spearhead the clinic including Roe, who competed at Murray State, Clark, formerly of the University of Memphis rifle team and Sherry, the 2019 Smallbore National Champion at Camp Perry and University of Alaska Fairbanks alumnus – not to mention SSG Kevin Nguyen, who is set to compete at the Tokyo Paralympics at the end of August. A few of the members are also former CMP Summer Camp counselors, familiar with training junior athletes.

Kayla Andreoli was the leading competitor in the Junior Prone Aggregate Match.

“Everybody got some nice, personalized coaching and improvement, and they’re going to be able to take that over and put it into practice,” Gray went on. “We expect to be back next year and are always looking forward to expanding with more people and coaches.”

In junior action, Bremen Butler, 16, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, was the overall competitor in the Three-Position Aggregate. With her score of 2229-50X, Butler came in fourth overall in the Open competition. She had just competed in the American Smallbore Shooting Association’s 3P and Prone Match in early July, which she said prepared her for her performance at Camp Perry.

“I felt pretty good coming here, and my goal was just to not embarrass myself,” she joked. “I’m still learning a lot.”

Along with a fundamental skillset, Butler came equipped with a new rifle she received two days before the matches began at Camp Perry – an Anschutz 54.30 named “Soph.” But, due to a few hiccups in planning, she was unable to use it for the National Matches. The mistake gave her the chance to properly “retire” her old Anschutz 660 rifle, “Missy,” that was passed onto her through her club and will now move on to help another junior.

Butler also made her 2021 Camp Perry experience memorable by firing a crossfire during the one of the positions of her match. Though her heart sank, she went into the next stage with a positive attitude.

“I went in thinking, ‘Alright, well, we’ve got some points to make up. It’s okay,’” she explained. “You move on, and you just try to shoot better the next day.”

In the coming months, Butler will prepare to fire at the 2021 ISSF Junior World Championships in Peru this October.

Other junior smallbore leaders included the Freedom’s Fire two-person team of Ryan and Tyler Wee, with a combined score of 1120-31X. Kayla Andreoli, 19, of Washington, Pennsylvania led the Junior Prone Aggregate with a score of 6374-420X.

Top scores of the National Smallbore Matches:

Three-Position (3×40) Aggregate Championship:
Open:

  1. SPC Ivan Roe, 25, AMU – 2295-100X
  2. SGT Timothy Sherry, 27, AMU – 2285-85X
  3. SPC Levi Clark, 23, AMU – 2283-84X

Junior:

  1. Bremen Butler, 16, Fort Wayne, Indiana – 2229-50X
  2. M’Leah Lambdin, 18, Colorado Springs, Colorado – 2221-64X
  3. Andrew Duross, 17, Marlborough, Massachusetts – 2218-57X

Three-Position (3×40) Iron Sight Championship:
Open:

  1. SPC Ivan Roe, 25, AMU – 1128-40X
  2. SGT Timothy Sherry, 27, AMU – 1127-37X
  3. SPC Levi Clark, 23, AMU – 1127-36X

Junior:

  1. M’Leah Lambdin, 18, Colorado Springs, Colorado – 1100-30X
  2. Bremen Butler, 16, Fort Wayne, Indiana – 1093-22X
  3. Emme Walrath, 15, Kenosha, Wisconsin – 1089-27X

Three-Position (3×40) Any Sight Championship:
Open:

  1. SPC Ivan Roe, 25, AMU – 1167-60X
  2. SGT Timothy Sherry, 27, AMU – 1158-48X
  3. SPC Levi Clark, 23, AMU – 1156-48X

Junior:

  1. Andrew Duross, 17, Marlborough, Massachusetts – 1136-39X
  2. Bremen Butler, 16, Fort Wayne, Indiana – 1136-28X
  3. Kayla Andreoli, 19, Washington, Pennsylvania – 1131-46X

Freedom’s Fire Team Match (two-person):
Overall: Ryan & Tyler Team (Tyler Wee, Ryan Wee) – 1120-31X
At-Large: The Cult (Victoria Kopelen, Bremen Butler) – 1123-31X

Three-Position Team Championship:
Overall (High Junior, High State Association):  Illinois State Rifle Association (Anthony Hotko, Dylan Gregory, Isabelle Gratz, Rylie Passmore) – 564-15X
High Club (Second Overall): Burnet County 4-H (Bethany Butler, Elizabeth Lilly, Elijah Butler, Carson Moore) – 2172-42X

Third Overall: PA State #1 (Hayden Bell, Brady Fowkes, Amanda Wolfe, Jack Ogoreuc) – 2168-45X

Prone 6400 Aggregate Championship:
Open:

  1. SGT Timothy Sherry, 27, AMU – 6393-550X
  2. SPC Levi Clark, 23, AMU – 6387-504X
  3. SPC Ivan Roe, 25, AMU – 6385-518X

Junior:

  1. Kayla Andreoli, 19, Washington, Pennsylvania – 6374-420X
  2. Anthony Hotko, 17, Batavia, Illinois – 6373-441X
  3. Jacob Day, 16, Columbus, Georgia – 6367-449X

Prone Iron Sight Championship:
Open:

  1. SGT Timothy Sherry, 27, AMU – 3196-265X
  2. Lucas Erwin, 41, West Columbia, South Carolina – 3196-217X
  3. SSG Kevin Nguyen, 28, AMU – 3192-220X

Junior:

  1. Anthony Hotko, 17, Batavia, Illinois – 3184-213X
  2. Kayla Andreoli, 19, Washington, Pennsylvania – 3182-203X
  3. Brady Fowkes, 17, Mayport, Pennsylvania – 3181-196X

Prone Any Sight Championship:
Open:

  1. SPC Levi Clark, 23, AMU – 3198-275X
  2. Jacob Day, 16, Columbus, Georgia – 3198-258X
  3. SGT Timothy Sherry, 27, AMU – 3197-285X

Junior:

  1. Jacob Day, 16, Columbus, Georgia – 3198-258X
  2. Benjamin D’Angelo, 18, Jamestown, New York – 3193-239X
  3. Kayla Andreoli, 19, Washington, Pennsylvania – 3192-217X

Prone Team Championship:
Open Overall: USAMU (SPC Levi Clark, SGT Timothy Sherry, SGT Kevin Nguyen, SPC Ivan Roe) – 1597-134X
At-Large: Eley X’s (Michele Makucevich, Terry Glenn, Ed Foley, Mike Carter) – 1594-97X
High Junior: Lafayette Gun Club (Brandon Evans, Victoria Koenig, Maria Koenig, Matthew Stout) – 1587-98X
High State Association: Illinois State Rifle Association (Anthony Hotko, Dylan Gregory, Isabelle Gratz, Adriana Schroeder) – 1583-116X
High Club: Rochester Rifle Club (Antonio Gross, Abigail Benson, Jeffrey Lagendyk, Michael Benson) – 1589-93X

Find a complete list of results, including top competitors by position, by visiting the CMP Competition Tracker page at https://ct.thecmp.org/2021Smallboreresults.

The Civilian Marksmanship Program is a federally chartered 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation. It is dedicated to firearm safety and marksmanship training and to the promotion of marksmanship competition for citizens of the United States. For more information about the CMP and its programs, log onto www.TheCMP.org.

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