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CMP Club News: Indiana State Junior High Power Championship

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The Indiana State Junior High Power Championship at the Fort Wayne Rifle & Revolver (FWRR) Range was held Saturday, July 10, 2021.

The Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club had worked on the event since spring 2021. Anticipation for the match was like waiting for Christmas when you were a kid – wanting it to hurry up and get here, yet feeling a nagging doubt that you might not get what you wanted. Or, in this case, things just might not turn out as well as you had hoped.

But, not to worry! This was a day to remember.

Our FWRR Junior Girls

Relays for the match filled up early, with more and more juniors registering. The last juniors joined the match Friday evening at about 6 p.m. when their dad found a way to get a day off work so he could bring them. Since they were driving up from French Lick, way down in southern Indiana, it wasn’t a quick trip, either.

Eleven juniors in total from as far as Lafayette, Maumee (Ohio), McCordsville and, of course, the Fort Wayne Juniors participated in the event. Interestingly enough, none of them are old enough to drive yet (most are 14 or 15), with one of the FWRR Juniors recently turning thirteen. The group is a great building base for a statewide Junior High Power program.

Madelyn Schnelle; Indiana Junior High Power Champion

The day of competition was perfect for shooting. As the week went on, the weather prospects improved steadily, and by Saturday morning, conditions were perfect. A First Shot Ceremony was held where Sue Mogle, the Indiana State Rifle and Pistol Association vice president for high power, fired the first shot. It gave guests a hint of what the day could bring when her offhand shot from 200 yards showed up as an X on Target 6!

The Championship featured a National Match Course in three relays. Since 10 of the 11 competitors were Marksmen (some shooting their first match), coaching was allowed. One young lady, who is shooting at a CMP Master Classification level, had to rely on herself.

The match went very well – the most important thing was that the juniors had fun. All were supported by a large group of parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters as well as several shooters who just stopped by to see how the match was going.

There were 17 “Old Folks” shooting as well. They had fun too, but the day was about the juniors.  

Madelyn Schnelle outshot “Old Folk” Mike King by a point and out “X-ed” him. Marshall Rohrbach “Creedmored” Mike in his offhand stage, 95-1X versus 95-0X. Mike had a pretty good day – but the juniors came with their game on!

Junior State Championship Match results are:

State Junior High Power Champion: Madelyn Schnelle       489-23X

Classification Winners:

Master                                                  Madelyn Schnelle       489-23X

Marksman                                            Robert Stevens           466-14X

Match Winners:

Offhand                                                Marshall Rohrbach 95-1X   

Sitting Rapid                                        Alex Becker                 95-3X

Prone Rapid                                         Logan Becker              96-1X

Prone                                                   Emma Branson    182-6X

The top six “Old Folks” results were:

Mike King                   488-13X

Mark Walters             481-19X

Pete Yarbro                480-13X

Eric Becker                 479- 7X

Randy Jahn                 477-16X

Geoff Branson             473-  8X

After the match, lunch was served. Michelle and Mark Walters acted as caterers and laid out a spread of burgers, chicken, hot dogs, mac and cheese and just about anything you could have asked for to go with it. If you went home hungry, it was your own fault.

The day closed out with a quick Blind Draw Team Match, where the juniors drew team partners and a coach out of a hat. The Garand Course match fired on the MR-52 target (600-yard target reduced for 200 yards) proved to be a challenge.

By the end of the day, everyone was exhausted but filled with such elation that no one realized it until they slowed down and sat for a while. Visitors had nothing but praise for the range, with several commenting that it looked more like a golf course than a typical rifle range. One individual from Wildcat Valley said, “These are the nicest firing points I’ve ever shot on. I’ve played on worse putting greens.”  Even the Porta-Pots were bragged about! Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard to make the range particularly nice for the day.

About the Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club:

The Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club in Indiana supports a variety of firearm shooting disciplines, including High Power Rifle and Action Pistol. Shooting competitions are open to the public, and club membership is not required to participate in scheduled matches. A calendar of shooting events as well as other information can be found on the club website at https://fwrrclub.org/

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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