Junior Olympics bound: Three Malemute shooters qualify for national event in Colorado

By DANNY MARTIN dmartin@newsminer.com

FAIRBANKS — Connor Gilman didn’t jump and scream when he learned he had qualified for the USA Shooting National Junior Olympic Championships, taking place during the next two weeks at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The Lathrop High School sophomore, though, knows that a special opportunity awaits him and two Lathrop teammates, JT Schnering and Kasey Barnes, in their first Junior Olympics.

They earned berths in air rifle for the Junior Olympics based on their results in a qualifying match in December at the E.F. Horton Range in the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Patty Center.

“I’m not a real enthusiastic person, so I just kind of went with the flow,” Gilman, after a practice Wednesday evening at the Tanana Valley Sportsmen’s Association facility, said of his initial reaction to qualifying for the Junior Olympics.

“My mom was happy, I was happy; but I’m just not like bouncing off the walls overly excited,” said Gilman, 15.

Barnes, a Lathrop junior, competes in the women’s air rifle on Tuesday and Wednesday in Colorado Springs. Gilman and fellow Lathrop sophomore Schnering shoot in the men’s matches on April 16-17.

Their entries mark the first time that a group of shooters from the same high school program in the Fairbanks area qualified for the Junior Olympics.

“The Junior Olympics go all the way up through 20-year-olds, so you’ve got college (shooters) doing it. So three kids from the same high school doing it is pretty special,” said Lyle Barnes, Kasey’s father and a volunteer coach and safety officer at the TVSA.

Kasey Barnes, JT Schnering and Gilman learned of their national qualifications in early March, three months after the qualifying matches at UAF. Gilman recorded a 565 total out of a possible 600 and Schnering shot a 564 in the men’s matches. Barnes registered a 381 out of possible 400 for the women’s entries.

“It was just nailbiting to try see how you did compared to the rest of the nation,” Barnes said of the wait for her qualifying results. “It’s just a lot of relief to know you did that good, and there’s just excitement of waiting to go down there.”

“Pretty crazy and insane,” is how Schnering described his first reactions to qualifying for the Junior Olympics.

“I didn’t think I’d get to it my sophomore year, but it happened and it’s pretty cool,” Schnering, 15, said.

It’s also been three months since the high school rifle season in Interior Alaska ended. Schnering, Gilman and Barnes have since trained with a club team, the Midnight Sun Sharpshooters, at the TVSA.

To also help them prepare for the Junior Olympics, they’ve been working with volunteer coaches, including Schnering’s father, John; Lathrop head coach Curtis Watkins; and Alaska Nanooks assistant coach Layne Lewis, a former NCAA All-American. The elder Schnering also is a safety officer at the TVSA.

“We’ve just been practicing and practicing. When we get down there, it’s game on,” JT Schnering said.

Barnes will compete in two matches with 40 targets each, and Schnering and Gilman will shoot in two matches with 60 targets each. The distance between the firing line and the air rifle targets is 10 meters.

Kasey Barnes has the luxury of having a family member experience the Junior Olympics. Her sister, Jaimie, a Nanooks freshman this past season, competed at last year’s Junior Olympics.

“I think it’s really nice because I know what to expect, somewhat. Dad went down there with her last year, so they figured out how everything was run,” said Kasey Barnes, who turns 17 Monday, when she has her first Junior Olympics practice in Colorado Springs.

Jaimie Barnes told her sister to avoid stress in this year’s Junior Olympics.

“You want to do your best but you don’t have to expect to win. So you’re just going down there to learn from it,” Kasey Barnes said. “(She said) Mostly to relax and don’t worry too much about what’s going to happen, because whatever happens happens.”

One thing that will happen at the Junior Olympics is the trio will be exposed to college coaches who are scouting for potential recruits.

Gilman said he hopes to either attend and compete for the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., or be a student at UAF and shoot for the Nanooks. Barnes has attracted interest from Texas Christian University and the Nanooks coaches.

“Having a Junior Olympics on your record as a high school sophomore would help,” Gilman said.