Getting better with age
Members of Kootenai Valley Rifle’s senior team pose for a photo. From left: Don Jordan, Tom Daniel, Greg Mead and Bill Leach.
Courtesy photo
BONNERS FERRY — They say that some things get better with age. Well, the Kootenai Valley Rifle Team is proving that they are aging quite well. For the fourth time in four years, the team of Bill Leach, Greg Mead, Tom Daniel and Don Jordan have broken the senior three-position team national record.
On March 12-13, a rifle match was held at the Kootenai Valley Range. Using a .22 caliber, single shot rifle, aiming at a target 50 feet away, 16 shooters completed the course shooting in the prone, standing and kneeling positions. To score a perfect 10, the shooter had to take out a dot, about the size of the period at the end of this sentence.
Shooting for both individual and team records, the shooters in the any-sight class shot 40 shots in each of the three positions. The junior shooters, under 21 years of age, use peep sights and shoot 20 shots in each position.
Bill Leach won the any-sight class with a score of 1117 out of a possible 1200. Second was Ron Shadel of the Sandpoint Rifle Club and third was Greg Mead. The team of Leach, Mead, Daniel and Jordan would combine their scores and best their old record by 41 points, shooting a 4317.
Taking top junior honors was Ellie Rutherford scoring a 541 out of a 600 possible. Meggie Kahanek was second overall, scoring a 500, and top intermediate junior (15-17 years old). Paige Sartell took second place intermediate junior and third place overall in the standing position. Salix Harris was first place sub-junior (under 15 years old) and third place overall in the kneeling position. Ilena Wenzel and Anthony Giallanza were second and third in the sub-junior category. Kyalynn Comer, shooting in her first match, was third overall in the prone position. These shooters, representing the Kootenai Valley Club, would best the shooters from Sandpoint for these honors. Rutherford, Kahanek, Harris and Sartell combined their scores to enter the national team match. It will be later this year when we find out how they place.
The season is coming to an end, but if you are interested in learning more about the sport of competitive shooting, we will start practicing again in October. Thank you to the Eagles Aerie No. 3522, the Friends of the NRA, and the Federal and CCI Youth Program for your continued support of the junior rifle club.