Marshall County Air Rifle Team Headed for Nationals
Quietly behind the scenes, Marshall County's new Air Rifle team has been working hard and improving their skills.
Recent competitions and great shooting skills earned them an invitation to the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) Regional Championship, in Sandy, UT. Each competitor would shoot 20 shots with a sporter air gun in the positions of kneeling, prone, and standing. This made for a total of 60 shots per day in a two-day competition. The aggregate scores would then be added together to determine placement. The top eight shooters must then compete again from square one, duking it out for first place.
The morning of Friday, April 19, our shooters set up on lanes 75-80, ready to "give their best shot." The team was made up of Baylee Bender, Austin Crawford, Clay Crawford, and Lexi Cutler with two alternate shooters - Amelia Crawford and Grant Cutler. Clay Crawford came in strong with an aggregate score of 543 out of a possible 600 points. Austin Crawford had a 531, Lexi Cutler a 516, and Bender a 493. Our alternates shot great too - Grant Cutler with a 492 and Amelia Crawford with a 512. Those scores put the Marshall County shooters in fourth place on Day 1 with Clay Crawford sitting in first place.
On Day 2, the riveting competition was recommended. Grant gained 15 points on the previous day's score with a 507. Amelia shot a 522, Baylee a 495, Lexi a 499, Austin a 528, and Clay a 543 with Clay holding on to his first-place position.
The local shooters shot their best score of the year with a total of 4,163 points. Austin Crawford placed sixth in his age division. In the next age division, Amelia Crawford took fourth and Bender eighth.
After all of this, came the brutal finals competition. They shot three sets of five shots each for kneeling, prone, and then standing. Clay Crawford earned a spot in the finals and finished in sixth place for the whole tournament.
Because of their high scores, the Marshall County Air Rifle Team has been invited to shoot at the CMP National Championship Tournament in Camp Perry, OH, to be held June 20-22.