Post date: Dec 16, 2014 12:04:34 AM
By Tim O’Donnell TODONNELL@NEWSMINER.COM
FAIRBANKS — A week after winning the Mid Alaska Conference air rifle individual title, JT Schnering qualified to compete at the Junior Olympics, which take place in April, in air rifle and smallbore.
Lathrop’s Schnering fired a 572 in air rifle and a 564 in smallbore at the Alaska State Qualifying Junior Olympic Rifle Championships on Saturday and Sunday at the E.F. Horton Rifle Range to qualify for the National Junior Olympics.
The Junior Olympics take place at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Cathryn Papasodora, from the Borealis Bullseyes Shooting Club in Anchorage, won the women’s air rifle with a personal-best 389 to qualify for the Junior Olympics.
West Valley’s Delaney Reece fired a personal-best 561 in smallbore to win the women’s gold medal and qualify for the Junior Olympics.
It’s the second straight year Schnering and Papasodora have qualified for the National Junior Olympics. At the 2013-14 National Junior Olympics, Schnering shot a 1,192.6 in the two-day air rifle competition and a 2,249 in the two-day smallbore event.
Papasodora shot a 820.3 at las year’s air rifle competition to reach the finals, where she finished seventh.
North Pole’s Zachary Andrews won the silver medal in the men’s air rifle with a 572. Schnering’s Lathrop teammate Connor Gilman took won the bronze medal after firing a 567.
Amy Gentry, who won the MAC individual smallbore title, won the women’s silver medal in air rifle with a 384 while Lathrop’s MaLinda Malenfant won the bronze medal with a 382, personal best.
Schnering, Gilman and Malenfant helped the Malemutes win air rifle and smallbore team titles at the MAC Championships at the E.F. Horton Rifle Range.
Luke Johnson, a freshman for the Alaska Nanooks, will be invited to the Junior Olympics after firing a match-high and automatic invite score of 584 in air rifle and 577 in smallbore.
Because Johnson hails from Marysville, Pennsylvania, he was ineligible to win any medals at the state qualifier.
Gilman, who went to Colorado Springs for air rifle last year, took home the silver medal in smallbore after firing a 564 on Sunday. Hutchison’s Mason Falkner won bronze with a score of 553, a personal best.
Gentry, who shot air rifle and smallbore at last year’s Junior Olympics, won her second silver medal of the weekend after shooting a 556 in smallbore. Papasodora took home the bronze with a 553 in smallbore.
You can read the rest of the 2015 JORC scores below