COLLEGE STATION, Texas -(Ammoland.com)- On Saturday, March 11, 2017 at the CMP Talladega Marksmanship Park in Talladega, AL., the CCMU Maroon Centerfire Team, firing Glock 34’s and Freedom Munitions ammunition, won the Scholastic Action Shooting Program (SASP) 2017 National Collegiate Championship.
The cadets from Texas A&M have now won this event in three of the last four years. The CCMU Centerfire Maroon team won the event and the national title, while the two other CCMU centerfire teams finished in 2nd and 4th place overall (an SASP team is a four person squad, the team score for the competition is the total time of the four individuals on the squad.)
Third place in the match was won by one of the two squads attending from the United States Military Academy at West Point (USMA).
The cadets of the CCMU also swept the centerfire individual awards for the match: High Overall Centerfire Shooter and High Lady in Centerfire.
The top two individual Centerfire Award scores in the match were fired by CCMU cadets led by sophomore cadet Kyle Post ’19 with a score of 44.55 seconds.
Cadet Post returns to his place at the top of the Collegiate Nationals after firing the top Rimfire score in 2016, and he has secured the High Overall Centerfire trophy for the CCMU for the second straight year.
The High Lady trophy in Centerfire went to sophomore Cadet Savannah Butters ’19 with a time of 60.60 seconds. Cadet Butters is no stranger to winning at national championship level matches as she was the 2016 High Lady in Rimfire at this match a year ago.
Notably Cadet Butters was firing the Walther Q5 Match pistol, a version of Walther’s incredibly popular PPQ series. Walther is a new and valuable sponsor of the CCMU and their pistols have performed exceptionally well in the hands of male and female CCMU cadets.
The CCMU Rimfire team also finished in 3rd place overall in only their second match of this type. The CCMU Rimfire team was composed entirely of freshman cadets and they performed extremely well in a crowded field of experienced shooters.
CCMU cadets fired seven individual scores below the once mythical 50 second mark…it was only four years ago that a Centerfire shooter first broke that mark.
The Maroon Centerfire Team members all fired a match score below 50 seconds:
Cadet John Burton ‘17 48.81 seconds
Cadet Nicholas Mrak ‘18 47.30
Cadet Kyle Post ‘19 44.55
Cadet Wade Ledbetter ‘19 46.22
The CCMU’s White Centerfire Team finished 2nd overall at the match narrowly defeating the top team from United States Military Academy:
Cadet Peter Miller ‘17 46.27 seconds
Cadet Sam Slichter ‘19 56.72
Cadet Christopfer “Kit” Hoog ‘19 49.87
Cadet Steven Bartlett ‘19 46.45
The CCMU Maroon Rimfire Team finished 3rd overall in Rimfire Division:
Cadet Andrew Marko ‘20 53.26 seconds
Cadet Harris Kruse ‘20 59.86
Cadet Grant Grabowski ‘20 58.61
Cadet John Gossett ‘19 57.52
CCMU Coach Kevin Jimmerson commented, “It is a great honor for me to lead this team as their Coach. I can’t express how proud I am of this team and the way they have responded to their challenges this year. In terms of experience in big matches, and the pressure they put on you as a shooter, this is the least experienced group of cadets I have brought to this match in four years. We only had two senior and two junior cadets at this match…and two of our best shooters were not able to attend. That put tremendous pressure on the cadets at the match to perform…and they stepped up!”
Coach Jimmerson added, “Our team leadership at all levels has worked very hard to prepare the team for this years matches. The professional leadership skills they learn as cadets in our Corps have never been more evident, and more important, than they have been this year. My cadets are dedicated to each other and to Excellence. They never lose sight of the fact that we win and lose together as a team and they always focus on the serious elements of what we do, while still having fun as we work at it.”
Ed Fitzgerald, SSSF Board Vice-Chairman and Advertising Manager of GLOCK, USA stated: “GLOCK is a strong proponent of Title IX sports clubs at the collegiate level. These programs allow students the opportunity to continue to enhance their shooting skills while also receiving a life skills education. They allow students who might never have the opportunity to shoot and compete to be part of a safe and fun skill development program that is gender neutral. Texas A&M’s CCMU has again demonstrated its dominance in the sport through a dedicated practice of excellence. We appreciate all the wonderful Colleges and Universities that have endorsed SASP and fielded teams for competition.”
The CCMU trains and competes in action shooting sports with other college teams, against active duty military and law enforcement and at 3Gun matches around the country, but it also works to grow participation in the shooting sports at all ages and among both men and women.
The CCMU is very grateful to its industry sponsors for their support of this team and its activities both on and off the range.
The cadets of the CCMU want to recognize all of the companies large and small who graciously sponsor the team for their continued support and also the team’s primary equipment sponsors that aided in this win: Freedom Munitions, Glock, Walther, Kryptek, TRUGLO, MagPul, Apex Tactical, Vista Outdoor, Safariland, TSRA Foundation and S3F Solutions for the cutting edge gear and support they provide, and the Texas A&M TEEX and the Willow Hole Cowboys for the use of their range facilities. Please take a moment to visit the Sponsor page on the CCMU web page and thank these businesses for their support of our future officers.
The CCMU was officially formed in December of 2011, but today’s squad represents the latest in over 100 years of history of marksmanship teams competing for the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M. The CCMU fields competitors in the action pistol sports, steel pistol sports, 3Gun and international clay sports.
Team members are drawn exclusively from the 2,700 men and women of the Corps of Cadets who are all undergraduates at Texas A&M. Scholarships and in-state tuition are also available for CCMU cadets.
The cadets of the CCMU are supported and funded through the Office of the Commandant of the Corps of Cadets, and the generous efforts of the Corps of Cadets Association, a private non-profit group committed to sustaining the 140 year old traditions of the Cadet Corps at Texas A&M. Please contact them to make a tax deductible donation on the teams behalf.
For more information on the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M University, visit their website. For information on the Corps of Cadets Marksmanship Unit visit www.cocmu.com or follow the team on Facebook.