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For the Mirror
The Somerset County 4-H rifle team recently won first place in the 3-position category at the 2021 4-H Shooting Sports National Championships conducted June 21-25, in Grand Island, Nebraska.
The Somerset team also won a third-place medal for high overall score in the small-bore competition and a fifth place in the steel-silhouette competition.
Elissa Barron, Haley Fetterman, Ruby Korenoski, and Nicole Rininger made up the 4-H small bore rifle team. Barron and Rininger are both North Star High School students. Korenoski is a Conemaugh Township High School student and Fetterman is a 2021 Conemaugh graduate. The teammates qualified to participate at the 4-H National Championships by winning the Pennsylvania State 4-H, 3-P championship this past April.
The Shooting Sports Championships include shooting in three different events using three types of 22-caliber rifles. In the steel silhouette match, a bolt-action rifle is used with a variable power scope. In the Civilian Marksmanship Program, a Ruger 10-22 auto-loader with a fixed 6-power scope is used. In the 3-P event, a single shot Olympic-style target rifle is used with open sights.
On day one of the championships, 21 teams, including young men and women from across the country shot at steel silhouettes representing chickens, hogs, turkeys and rams. The steel targets are set up at ranges of 40, 60, 77, and 100 yards. This event requires bolt-action rifles with variable-power scopes. The Nebraska winds were a real challenge for all the competitors and the Somerset County team came in fifth. There were 80 individual marksmen from 21 states registered for the three days of relays.
On day two of the championships, the ladies fired 22-caliber Ruger auto-loading 10-22 rifles at paper targets in the CMP match. This is a slow-fire and rapid-fire event at ranges of 25 and 50 yards. This style of rifle and timed event is new to these ladies, who have years of experience with bolt-action target rifles. When scores were tallied the Somerset four found themselves in 10th place and eligible for a ribbon.
As wellas their high school teams, all four shooters have been members of the Jerome Junior Rifle Team for several years. This travel team has members from a number of area high schools and is based out for the Jerome Sportsmen's Club near Jerome. However, this is the first season the young women have shot in 4-H sanctioned events.
Day three of the championship competition posed a familiar style of shooting for this team. The members each have their own target rifles and all have won numerous competitions and awards in the past. The last day of this outdoor event had storm clouds on the horizon with high winds, thunder and lightning threatening the completion of the match.
The coach of the 4-H team, Mike Knapp of Hooversville, was proud of his group as they powered through difficult weather conditions to pull out a championship.
"Our ladies were poised, confident and successful and I knew they'd do well here in Nebraska." Knapp said. "Adversity is part of this game and Elissa, Haley, Nicole and Ruby handled themselves in a professional, well trained manner. They did a great job to bring home the gold in front of big crowds and against tough competition."