Local Shooters Named State Champions

SEELEY LAKE – Hellgate Civilian Shooters (HCS) Ibby Lorentz and Justin Thomas took the state championships for junior air rifle and smallbore at the Junior Olympic Invitational in Bozeman, Mont. Jan. 7-8. They are both invited to compete in the Junior Olympic Championships at the Junior Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. in April.

Lorentz is ranked eighth in the country. She along with an HSC team of four earned a spot to shoot at the Army Nationals in Fort Benning, Ga. at the end of January.

The HCS officially started their season in September. This year the team includes Seeley-Swan High School (SSHS) juniors Lorentz and Thomas and freshman Sam Weisenburger as well as other shooters from Missoula, Mont., Florence, Mont. and Superior, Mont.

The shooters participated in the Army Marksmanship Postal in December. For the postal match, shooters compete at their home range and mail in the targets to be scored against shooters nationally.

Of 325 shooters, Lorentz ranked eighth in the nation for female juniors. The HCS team included Lorentz, Thomas, junior Alex Weisenburger from Florence, Mont., sophomore Jonna Warnken from Superior, Mont. and alternate junior Abbey Donald from Missoula, Mont. They ranked ninth in the nation.

The top 20 individuals and top 20 teams were invited to Fort Benning, Geo. to shoot in the Army Nationals Jan. 26-30.

At the Junior Olympic Invitational in Bozeman, Mont. Jan. 7-8, Lorentz shot a 542 of 600 points in the smallbore rifle match, earning her the State Champion title for female junior shooters.

Thomas shot a 553 of 600 points in the smallbore rifle match, earning him the male junior State Champion Title.

Weisenburger tied Lorentz with a smallbore score of 542. However, because Thomas beat him in the men's competition, he will only be invited to the Junior Olympics if his score is high enough to meet the national cut off that will be announced soon.

"The big thing is Sam tied Ibby," said HCS Coach Trace Weisenburger. "If you go overall with the juniors in the state, Justin was first, [Chase Breitbach] from Circle took second with 545 and Ibby and Sam tied for third."

In the air rifle match, Lorentz shot 393 of 400 total points earning her a second state championship title for junior women for the weekend. In 1984 a female shooter from Billings, Mont. won the Olympic Gold Medal in air rifle with 393 points.

Coach Weisenburger said now scores at the Olympic level are closer to perfect with 400 out of 400 points, "but she shot very well."

HCS Alex Weisenburger took second for the junior women with a score of 380. Third place went to Mackenzie Staruch of Bozeman with a score of 379.

Thomas also earned his second state championship title in air rifle with a score of 568 of 600 total points. Teammate Weisenburger placed fifth with a score of 539.

The shooters are focused on training for the Army Nationals and then the USA Shooting Invitational in mid-February in Bozeman. World champion shooter Joe Hyne is giving a training camp for the HCS on the four elements of the shot process. The four elements are: natural point of aim; visualization; mental preparedness using key words; execution and post execution.

"[This camp] is a really big thing that we have going on. It's going to be done just prior to the kids going to [Army] nationals. Hopefully, that will end up with a really good result," said Coach Weisenburger who noted that the shooters thrive off of each other. When one does well, or makes a big jump forward, the rest "get drug along," making the whole team more competitive.

Lorentz has already had 24 schools approach her with various shooting and academic scholarship offers. College recruiters can only start approaching shooters when they are juniors.

Weisenburger said that it is his goal as their coach to have four or five colleges offering them scholarships so they have a choice of schools to attend after high school.

"We are continuing to build on our success from the previous years and the kids are still working as hard as ever," said Coach Weisenburger. "This is the kids' ticket to ride for the rest of their life."

Coach Weisenburger appreciates the support of SSHS and teachers' willingness to work with the students when they are travelling. He added the community has also been very supportive in the past and continues to support the shooters.

The students are holding a raffle for a Remington 200 Year Commemorative Special Edition Model 700 ADL .270 Win caliber. Tickets are $10 each with only 350 to be sold. Raffle tickets are available from any of the Hellgate Junior Shooters, Chris Lorentz 677-6803 or Brad Walters at NAPA. All proceeds support the HCS.