Junior Events

2003-2007

Air rifle enthusiasts require precision

Article from "The Morning News" Monday February 17, 2003

By Carl Franks

Blackfoot- Imagine trying to hit a target the size of a pinhole from about 30 feet away without the aid of a magnification sight.

Show up any Thursday in the basement of A to Z Sporting goods in downtown Blackfoot and watch the youths there hit the pin with precison.

Nathan Cochrane, 14, Kyle Isom, 13, and his sister Angie, 16, were shooting for qualifiying scores in the American Legion Junior Shooting Sports tournament recently at the A to Z Shooting range. The team, Cedar Hill Junor Gun Club, is sponsored by American Legion Post #4 in Pocatello.

Using hi-tech German-made air rifles and wearing specially designed pants, jackets and shoes, the three compete by shooting 60 .177 caliber pellets from the prone, kneeling and standing positions.

Each pellet is worth 10 points if the tiny white dot is removed from a multi-spot target about 30 feet away.

The guns are charged up to 3000 psi with compressed air and will fire the 8.2 grain pellets between 500 and 600 feet per second.

According to Randy Shikashio, a coach for the youths, a good qualifying score would be in the 500s.

Cochrane, who shot in the NRA National Championships in Atlanta last summer, managed a score of 527 and placed 132 of the nation's top 300 shooters.

With only 63 points separating a perfect score and Cochrane's 527, competition is fierce.

If the youths qualify for the American Legion tournament, they will compete at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs in August.

Anyone interested in the shooting sport is invited to the range in the basement of A to Z at 30 W. Bridge St. any Thursday between 7p.m. to 9 p.m.

Blackfoot girl comes in second in shooting competition

Article from Morning News

NAMPA - Angie Isom of the Cedar Hills Junior Gun Club in Blackfoot finished second in the precision air rifle competition at the Junior Olympics qualifing match in Nampa on Jan. 25.

The 16-year-old Isom scored a 359 out of 400.

The annual match is sanctioned by USA Shooting, the governing body for the U.S. Olympics shooting sports. Besides, precision air rifle, there were also events involving precision smallbore rifle, free pistol, and air pistol.

The winners of those matches with the right qualifying scores will be able to compete at the Junior Olympics Championship at Colorado Springs, Colo.

In Isom's precision air rifle event, women competitors take 40 shots in an hour and 15 minute-time frame while men take 60 shots in an hour and 45 minutes. The event has each competitor shoot at a target at a distance of 10 meters, aiming at a 10-ring whose center is about the size of a period.

Isom's silver medal-winning effort of 359 bettered the score of 330 needed to qualify for the state competition.

Isom also won a gold medal in the air pistol evnet but her score of 221 out of 400 was short of the 310 needed for state qualifying.

The Blackfoot girl will next compete in Nampa on Mar. 8 in a qualifying match for to determine the NRA All-Star team for Idaho. The All-Star Team will compete in the NRA National Championship in Wilmington, NC in July.

Isom earns spot on NRA All-Star team

Article from Blackfoot "Morning News"

NAMPA - Angie Isom, of the Cedar Hill Junior Gun Club in Blackfoot, has guaranteed herself a spot on the NRA three position All-Star Team which will represent Idaho at the annual NRA National Air Gun Championships in July.

In a March 8-9 competition held at the Nampa Rod and Gun Club in Nampa, Isom placed second in the junior division by shooting a score of 550 out of 600. The score was bested only by Dan Stickley from Merdian who shot a 568.

Three other club shooters, Nathan Cochrane, Kyle Isom, and Cameron Seamons finished with a respectable scores of 538, 515, and 447, respectively, but failed finish in the thop four and did not qualify for the national event.

This year's national match, which will be held in Wilmington, N.C., will pit more than 250 of the nation's best young air rifle and air pistol shooters in a shot-for-shot competition for the national junior title. It is the first year for pistol competition and, depending on the final disposition of the air pistol event, Isom could also represent Idaho in that division.

2003 EVENTS

Local shooters bring home medals

By Carl Frank

The Morning News

Two local sharpshooters posted meal-winning targets at a Jr. Olympic qualifying shoot but neither qualified for the prestigious Jr. Olympics team.

After only 13 months of practice, Nicholas Castle shot a 534 of 600 to win a silver medal at he USA Shooting Sanctioned 10 Meter air rifle competitions held in Nampa and Coeur d' Alene during January. The qualifying score required to continue on to the Olympic Training Center in Boulder, Colorado was 565. That score proved higher than any shooter could post during the sanctioned competition.

Local shooter Angie Isom also brought home a silver medal after shooting 333 of a possible 400 in the girls' off-hand 10 Meter shoot. Isom missed the qualifying score of 370.

Both shooters are scheduled to compete in an NRA qualifier to be held in Pocatello July 7-11.

Coach Randy Shikashio said that qualifying scores have recently been raised and that the shooters have to be in top form before they're invited to the OTC.

"College shooting coaches all watch what they (shooters) do at the Jr. Olympic tournaments and that's where they recruit for the NCAA shooting teams," he said.

2004 EVENTS

POCATELLO HOSTS THE NRA JUNIOR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP SEVEN TEAMS FROM IDAHO COMPETE IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP.

2006 EVENTS

2006 LOCAL MEDAL WINNER FOR STATE JUNIOR OLYMPICS

IDAHO STATE STUDENT AND LOCAL QUALIFY TO ATTEND PISTOL JUNIOR OLYMPICS AT OLYMPIC TRAINING CENTER IN COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO.

2007 Events

Blackfoot Shooters Take Top Places In State

By Nathan Jerke

Morning News

nathanj@cableone.net

BLACKFOOT - Breath... steady ... fire.

Repetition is the key to successful target shooting and few repetitions are as important as those. Two young shooters in Blackfoot followed those simple steps to first place finishes in the state Junior Olympics two weeks ago.

Marina Rossi, a freshman at Snake River High School, was presented with two medals and Mike Nelson, a senior at Blackfoot High School, was presented with in air pistol and a bronze in air rifle; Nelson won the gold in air rifle.

"They're the top shootersin the state," said Randy Shikashio, coach of the Cedar Hills Junior League 4-H Gun Club. "I thought they shot well, but we only managed to get a couple medals this year."

The state event was held on Dec. 16 in Blackfoot. They were presented with their medals at a club meeting Wednesday evening at the A-Z Shooting Sports air rifle range in Blackfoot.

In each event, shooters are awarded a mzimum of 10 points for each shot with a maximum score of 400 for femalses and 600 for males. Nelson scored a 560 in air rifle; Rossi finished with a 356 in air rifle and a 295 in air pistol.

Even though the two shooters were the best in the statein those two events, neither will be traveling to the National Junior Olympics in

"They're the top shooters in the state."

---Randy Shikashio coach, Cedar Hills Junior League 4-H Cub

Colorado Springs, Colo., in March. To be qualified for nationals, shooters had to achieve a minimum score in each event, but Nelson and Rossi were short of those scores.

"(At nationals) if they finish in the top two places, they're invited to get on a development team and if they finish in the number one spot, they get travel money in addition to joining the team," Shikashio said.

Shikashio said only one competitor in the stae qualified to go to national event. He said the Blackfoot club has had six shooters go to nationals in the last three years, but was just short this year.

The competition was the first at the stae-evel for both Rossi and Nelson, in fact, Rossi has only been shooting competitively for about six months.

"I was nervous but I just did my best and that worked," Rossi said about the competition. "(Shooting) is really fun, and it's really independent, too. I get to do it by myself, you don't have to rely on anyone else but yourself."

Nelson, who has been shooting with the team for about three years, said the state competition was probably the best he had ever shot.

He said even though he won't be able to compete in junior circuit any longer, he hopes to continue shooting.

"I would have liked a better (outcome) but it's my personal best. I'm pretty happey about it," Nelson said. "If I get good enough maybe I'll try to get into igher level competition."

For Nelson, this was his last opportunity to go to the national event, but Shikashio siad he expects Rossi to be competing there next year.

"Next year you'll be going to the Junior Olympics," Shikashio told Rossi.

"That's the goal,' Rossi replied. "And then, hopefully, I can get a scholarship and then keep competing."