State 4-H Rifle Team wins National Championship in Nebraska
A Pennsylvania rifle team has won first place in the 3-Position (3-P) Smallbore (SB) category at the 2022 4-H Shooting Sports National Championships held June 26 through July1 in Grand Island, Nebraska. They also won second place for SB Silhouette and a second place for SB High Overall score.
Emily Bennett, Sadie Palfrey, Noah Lehman and Zach Tedrow, made up the PA 4-H rifle team based in Somerset County. Bennett attends Bishop Carroll High School in Ebensburg. Lehman is a student at Conemaugh Township High School in Davidsville. Tedrow is a 2022 graduate from North Star High School in Boswell and Palfrey is home schooled in Indiana, Pennsylvania.
The team qualified to participate in Nebraska by winning the Pennsylvania State 4-H, 3-P Championship last April in Huntingdon. The three shooting positions are; standing, kneeling and prone.
The four marksmen are also members of the Jerome Junior Rifle Team (JJRT) boasting top shots from a number of area high school rifle teams. The team competes in a number of state-wide 4-H and Junior Olympic competitions, in addition to college matches in Ohio, West Virginia, Michigan and Virginia.
Last year four other members of the JJRT made up a 4-H team that won the coveted National Championship. The teams practice together and are based at the Jerome Sportsmen’s Association’s indoor and outdoor range facilities located in Jerome.
The Grand Island finals attracted 700 young men and woman from 39 states who participated in a variety of disciplines. In the 3-P rifle category alone there were 79 individual shooters from 20 states registered. Other teams competed in archery, muzzle loader, shotgun and air rifle/pistol events.
The 4-H SB competition requires teams to shoot in three different events on three successive days. Each match requires a specific type of 22-caliber rifle. In the steel silhouette match, a bolt-action rifle with scope is used. In the Civilian Marksmanship Program, a Ruger 10-22 auto-loader rifle with a scope is used. In the 50 yard 3-P event a single shot, Olympic-style, target rifle is used with open sights.
Barry Rininger, JJRT head coach and assistant 4-H coach said, “We are especially proud of our team for winning again, to repeat in this nation-wide competition is truly remarkable.”
Rininger added, “With temperatures near 100 degrees and 40 mph winds, our kids remained focused and didn’t let the tough conditions, big crowds and keen competition get them rattled. Adversity is part of this game and Emily, Sadie, Noah and Zach were confident and determined to bring home the gold, and they did just that.”
This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Somerset County rifle team wins National Championship in Nebraska
