Colorado Springs, CO -(Ammoland.com)- Three weeks of competition at the National Junior Olympic Shooting Championships (NJOSC) closed on a high note today for 17-year-old Jacob Buchanan (Spring, Texas) who won gold in the Men’s Three-Position and Prone Rifle competitions.
Buchanan (pictured) surged to the lead in the second day of Prone competition with a dominating 624.8 in today’s Qualification match – 624 would qualify most Open-level athletes for a Final in international competition. Though he only finished in seventh place in the Final, the points earned in two days of Qualification plus today’s Final were enough to secure him the gold. Josh Martin (Hershey, Pennsylvania) of Army, the winner of today’s Final, ended up taking the silver medal and Spencer Brandon (Kingsport, Tennessee) of the Air Force Academy won bronze.
Buchanan would complete the rare feat of winning a second gold medal at NJOSC by also winning the Men’s Three-Position Rifle event today as well with another strong score (1165) on his second day of competition. Murray State Racer Ben Estes (Ozark, Missouri) would win today’s Final, but would end up taking the silver medal. Martin would also claim his second medal of NJOSC, this time a bronze in Three-Position Rifle.
On Saturday, William Anti (Colorado Springs, Colorado) won the Men’s Air Rifle event. Anti will shoot for 17-time NCAA Rifle National Champions West Virginia next year. In December of last year at the Winter Airgun Championships, Anti set a National Record for his age group. Drew Cheezum III (Centreville, Maryland) of Ohio State won the silver medal in Air Rifle and Murray State’s Ivan Roe (Manhattan, Montana) would win bronze.
Buchanan, Estes, Anti and Cheezum also earned nominations to the National Junior Team by virtue of their gold and silver-medal finishes. Prone medalists do not earn National Junior Team status.
The Men’s Rifle competition at this year’s NJOSC was the largest contingent to ever take to the firing line in the event’s history with 192 competitors. Over the three weeks of rifle and pistol competition, more than 500 youth, ages 10 thru 20, made their way to USA Shooting’s National headquarters in Colorado Springs. The competitors represented those that excelled during their state championship, whittled down from the 2,500-plus participants competing in 86 events in 46 states.
The NJOSC program serves as an important element of USA Shooting’s pipeline development system in promoting the shooting sports. The states seeing the highest Junior Olympic participation this year included Pennsylvania, Alaska, Washington and Colorado.
Men’s Prone Rifle
- Champion: Jacob Buchanan
- 2nd Place: Josh Martin
- 3rd Place: Spencer Brandon
- High J2: Nicholas Borelle
- 2nd J2: Logan Ogden
- 3rd J2: Clayton Hanson
- High J3: Mason Hamilton
- 2nd J3: William Shaner
- 3rd J3: Mason Mackenzie
Men’s Three-Position Rifle
- Champion: Jacob Buchanan
- 2nd Place: Ben Estes
- 3rd Place: Josh Martin
- High J2: Peter Fiori
- 2nd J2: Shelby Huber
- 3rd J2: Logan Ogden
- High J3: William Shaner
- 2nd J3: Mason Hamilton
- 3rd J3: Scott Rockett
Men’s Air Rifle
- 3rd Place: Ivan Roe
- 2nd Place: Drew Cheezum III
- Champion: William Anti
- High J2: Peter Fiori
- 2nd J2: Jacob Buchanan
- 3rd J2: Justin Kleinhans
- High J3: William Shaner
- 2nd J3: Richy Miller
- 3rd J3: Tyler Horn
About ELEY
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About USA Shooting
USA Shooting, a 501c3 non-profit corporation, was chartered by the United States Olympic Committee as the National Governing Body for the sport of shooting in April 1995. USA Shooting’s mission is to prepare American athletes to win Olympic medals, promote the shooting sports throughout the U.S. and govern the conduct of international shooting in the country.
Check us out on the web at usashooting.org and on Twitter at twitter.com/USAShooting.
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