2023-24 Rifle Season

[Aragorn243]

This season has been a real challenge for me. I lost 7 of my varsity to graduation last year and started this year with 5 experienced shooters that were ready for matches. One of them however was late getting her physical done and was unavailable for the first two weeks. Our first match of the year was a non-league match against what is like a JV team. We beat them but not with the best score, a 490 which is acceptable for early in the season, especially for an inexperienced team.

Our first league match was next and it was a horrid 482 loss. I think that was the lowest score one of my teams has ever shot. We lost the next four matches and then won a second non-league match vs the same "JV" team. Scores were bouncing around the high 480's low 490's during this time. Our first and only league win of the first half of the season was a 496, then we lost to the eventual league champion with a low 491 and they left that match wide open, had we shot a 496 against them, we would have won. But that's the way it goes.

Second half of the season I had 7 experienced shooters with 3 additional ones that were coming along and able to back up the others on an occasional basis. We started winning, against the better teams. Scores never got below 494 and we had two 498's and a 499.

We had the first of our two tournaments on the Saturday before our final match and I took three A-pairs, experienced shooters, and one B-pair, first year shooters or shooters who never competed in a match prior to this year. The pairs act as a team and they each shoot two targets for a total of four. They also use electronic scoring for this tournament which can mean a max of 10.9 for each shot.

Twenty-nine A-pairs, my teams finished 2nd, 5th and 18th and that team was made up of one A shooter and one B shooter because I didn't have enough A shooters to take. There were 15 B-pairs and my team finished 1st, actually finishing higher overall than my 5th place A-pair.





Last match of the year was away at the eventual league champions. I told the kids they needed a 500 to beat them and they were ready to do that.

First relay, three girls, laughing, joking, chit chatting, driving me nuts but they settled down and each shot a 100, great start and I thought they were going to pull it off. Second relay not as good though, two 99's and a 98. Still a great score, 498 with three shooters to go. I have no idea what they had; I didn't really want to know. Third relay did even worse though two 98's and a 97 so we held firm on the 498. We are checking targets after they were officially scored, and we are tied at 498. Sixth shooter, tied, seventh shooter, tied, eighth shooter tied, ninth shooter TIED, 889 to 889. Neither of us could believe it. Center shots were next, and we had 6 to their 9 so they won on the 5th tiebreaker.

Their coach was actually choked up as he knew how we were struggling early in the season and what an incredible turn around they made. He congratulated them and we did a walk through handshake which we never do. It felt good but not as good as a win would have. We finished 8-8 overall and 6-8 in the league.

In the meantime, All Stars were determined after the last match. I had two make the All Stars, 8th and 10th, I only had one make it last season.



Today was our final event, the cream of the crop competing against each other for bragging rights. Our Individuals tournament, two targets, max of 200 points. Top six shooters from each team in the league go, a total of 48 shooters.

I had three kids in the top 5, 2nd with 199 5 centers, third with 199 3 centers and fifth with 199 2 centers. We also won the team tournament championship which is the top 5 shooters with 990 and 15 centers, 2nd place had 989 and 11 centers, so it was very close. The league champions had two shooters choke really bad and weren't even close.

So, we came home today with a lot of hardware which is awesome considering how slowly they started.





I'm trying to wind down, it's been a stressful season, this type of finish helps a lot. Now we have our family nights coming up, the kids get to take charge of their parents for a couple of hours a night and train them to shoot for a pairs tournament of our own at the end of the week.