Air Rifle Team Wins GOLD!

Crowned NRA National Champions

The NRA National Jr. Air Gun Championship and Training Summit was held in Des Moines, Iowa June 25 -29, 2008. With sponsorship from Georgia Sport Shooting Association and Georgia Competitive Shooters Inc., four of Georgia's premier Air Rifle shooters were able to compete, bringing home Team Gold as well as Individual honors.

Team members April Dunn of Newnan, Matthew Branyon of McDonough, Adam Thrasher of Locust Grove, and Kyle Whisenant of McDonough finished an unheard of 34 points above their second place competition to bring the GOLD home to Georgia.

All members of the Spalding County 4-H Shooting Sports Program practice regularly at the Ole Mill Range Complex in Griffin, GA. To qualify for the National Competition each member must compete and post a qualifying score in the NRA State Championship match held in May. Once selected, the team made arrangements to travel the 16 hours to Des Moines, Iowa. In Iowa the match consisted of 40 record shots (20 each over two separate days of competition) in each of the prone, standing, and kneeling events each day with the aggregate score representing the total shots of the 2-day competition.

With 150 individuals and 36 Teams registered for the National event, the Georgians placed 3^rd, 4^th, 10^th and 14^th respectively.

Individual accomplishments for the team are:

April Dunn 1170 Bronze ~ Over All

Matthew Branyon 1170 4^th ~ Intermediate Junior Gold

Adam Thrasher  1163         10^th  ~ Junior Gold

Kyle Whisenant 1158        14th   ~ Junior Silver

Also, based on their standings, team members Matthew Branyon and April Dunn qualified to represent the USA in an International Air Rifle Postal Team Competition against The South African Schools Shooting Union as well as other invited countries.

One of the highlights of the trip was the “Fun Match” where each member of the team was able to compete with an adult to win a prize. Matthew Branyon competing with his dad, ranked top of our group with a score of 91, finishing 14^th over all in the competition. All of the team members had a great time teaching the adults how to use their rifle and had more fun saying “I told you so” to just how hard this sport really is.

All team members along with Morgan Kelley, Jacob Brown, and Jacob Neri will travel July 10 – 12, 2008 to compete in the National Jr. Olympic Competition in Anniston, AL. Hoping to once again bring home the gold, the Georgia Team is eternally grateful for the sponsorship and confidence of GSSA and GCS Inc.