A pair of sweeps highlight conference rifle championships
Post date: Dec 9, 2012 2:28:23 PM
by Bob Eley/beley@newsminer.com
Dec 09, 2012
FAIRBANKS — There were a pair of sweeps as the Mid Alaska Conference Rifle Championships came to a close Saturday afternoon.
Lathrop’s Kasey Barnes completed a sweep of the individual titles in the two-day competition at the University of Alaska Fairbanks E.F. Horton Range, while the Hutchison Hawks swept the team crowns.
Barnes collected her second straight air rifle title on Friday afternoon, then posted a personal best score to claim the smallbore title.
The Lathrop senior posted a score of 557 out of a possible 600 to earn her first smallbore title. She won the air rifle title with a 567, eight points better than the score she won with the previous year.
North Pole’s Brenna Welch earned the silver medal with a personal best score of 541.
Hutchison’s Nathanael Manning earned the bronze medal and helped with the team title for Hutchison with a 539.
Manning and teammates Roscoe Beadles, Gabe Stutz and Blaze Brooks took third through sixth place to give the Hawks the smallbore team title. Beadles came in with a 535, while Stutz registered a 531 and Brooks came through with a personal best 526.
Hutchison finished the smallbore team competition with a 2,131, six points ahead of the Malemutes’ 2,125. North Pole was third at 2,017, followed by West Valley with a 1,975 and Delta Junction with a 1,933.
Other personal best scores on Saturday were by Lathrop’s Connor Gilman with a 525, Lathrop’s Liam Eberhardt with a 523, West Valley’s Connor Sodden with a 514, North Pole’s Zachary Andrews with a 463. North Pole’s Caleb Simmons with a 460 and Delta Junction’s Patrick Newman with a 456.
Brooks and Beadles finished second and third behind Barnes in the air rifle event on the opening day of the two-day, posting personal best scores of 563, and 562, respectively.
Lathrop’s Joshua Smith notched a personal best score of 561 for fourth place and Lathrop’s Erik Kirschner rounded out the top five with a 553.
Other personal best scores on Friday were by North Pole’s Mitch Durrant with a 498 and Delta Junction’s Angus Pospisil with a 476.
Hutchison finished the air rifle team event with a score of 2,210, while Lathrop posted a 2,187 to garner the runner-up spot. Rounding out the field were West Valley with a 2,095, Delta Junction with a 2,076 and North Pole with a 2,038.
The MAC Championships mark the end of the season for high school rifle season as there is not a state championship meet.
Spectators watch the competition during the smallbore event on the second day of competition . Eric Engman/News-Miner
Lathrop's Kasey Barnes, left, tries to relax while being congratulated by her sister Jaimie, center, and father Mark, right, after completing her round during the smallbore event on the second day of competition. Barnes won the individual title in air rifle the day before, her second in a row. Eric Engman/News-Miner
Hutchison senior Nathanael Manning takes aim during the dry-fire warm-ups before his round during the smallbore event on the second day of competition at teh Nid Alaska Conference high school rifle championships in the E.F. Horton Range Saturday afternoon, December 8, 2012 at the UAF Patty Center. Eric Engman/News-Miner