JROTC All Service National Championships
Over 200 of the top JROTC Rifle Marksmen met in Camp Perry, Ohio, the week of March 25-28 for the All Service JROTC National Championship. Cadet Major Claire Calvert of the Walla Walla High School Army JROTC Precision Rifle Team competed against other top precision marksmen for honors during the 2-day match that concluded on Saturday, March 28.
“We have been training hard for this match,” said WaHi Rifle Coach Mark Mebes. “The level of competition here is higher than anything we have faced yet this season. There are two qualifying matches you have to win to get here: a local match, then a regional qualifier. We haven’t qualified a team here for 3 years, and this is the first time in about two decades that WaHi has qualified an individual shooter.”
To qualify as an individual, precision class shooters have to be ranked in the top 5 shooters in the US to advance to the National Match. Calvert entered the match ranked #4 among Army JROTC precision marksmen.
“This is the first time I have qualified to come here,” said Calvert. “It is a new experience to be at a match this exclusive. It’s really an honor.”
Marksmen competed in a course of fire that included 2 days of competition, each day firing 2 record shots from each firing position: kneeling, prone, and standing for a total one-day score of up to 600 points.
On the first day of competition, Calvert performed well in the kneeling and prone positions with a 195 in kneeling and a 199 in prone. Her final score at the end of the first day totaled 582, putting her in 4th place among the Army cadets at the match.
On day two, after some troubles in kneeling and prone, despite a solid performance in the standing position, Calvert finished with a total of 1150, placing her in the top half of precision marksmen at the event.
