Hellgate Civilian Shooters (L-R): Marcus Klemp, Ellis McAfee, Libby Diller, Sam Weisenburger, Kyndall McPhillips (Not pictured: Jonna Warnken, Berit Bedord, Laurisa Ross, Aakylah Red Fox)
Sam Weisenburger won the State Junior Olympic 3-P Air Rifle match Feb. 23.
After a slow start to their season, four Hellgate Civilian Shooters have received an invite to Junior Olympics in April, the first Hellgate team has secured an invite to the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) three-position (3P) Air Rifle National Championships in June, and Seeley Lake's Sam Weisenburger won the State Junior Olympic 3-P Air Rifle match the last weekend in February followed closely by teammate Libby Diller.
This is Weisenburger's second year getting an invite to the National Junior Olympic Shooting Championships held at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. He received his invite after shooting a qualifying match in Bozeman, Mont. in early January. Teammates Marcus Klemp, Ellis McAfee and Jonna Warnken also received invites to the Junior Olympics in mid-April.
Weisenburger, Klemp, McAfee and Warnken plus shooters Diller, Aakylah Red Fox, Kyndall McPhillips and Berit Bedord have been invited to the Regional Championships in Sandy, Utah April 4-6. While Hellgate's first team with Weisenburger, Diller, Klemp and Warnken have already received an invite to the CMP National Championships this July, Head Coach Trace Weisenburger is hoping that Hellgate's second team with McAfee, McPhillips, Bedord and Red Fox will also get invited if they shoot well enough at their upcoming matches. Hellgate shooter Laurisa Ross is an alternate.
The team recently participated in the State Junior Olympic 3-P Air Rifle match Feb. 23 in Belgrade. They shot 20 prone, 20 off-hand and 20 stops kneeling.
Weisenburger was the state match winner with a score of 583 with 37 Xs out of 600 points possible. The number of Xs, dead-center shots, decided the match as teammate Diller took second place with an identical score of 583 with 31 Xs.
"That was a huge feather in Sam's cap," said Coach Weisenburger.
Hellgate's first team beat out Bozeman, their toughest competitor this year, for the top seat for the CMP 3-Position match with a score of 2316. Bozeman shot a 2310.
"It is very little difference," Coach Weisenburger pointed out with a total of 2400 points and each shot worth up to 10 points.
Sunday, Feb. 24 was the NRA 3 Position Championship. The leader board switched as Hellgate team took second with a score of 2318, just two points behind Bozeman.
"[Bozeman is] pretty tough," said Coach Weisenburger. "We are kind of feeding off each other by working back and forth."
Coach Weisenburger said that at the beginning of the season everything they did fell short. However, starting last weekend, the team shot extremely well with six out of eight shooting a personal best.
"I was extremely proud of them all because they all shot really well," said Coach Weisenburger. "If I ask for a personal best and they give me a personal best, even just by one point, that is huge for these kids to shoot that in a championship such as this. All of the coaches were pretty darn happy with all the kids. Now we are turning it on hot."
Coach Weisenburger said they are at the top of their game going into Regionals April 4-6 and Junior Olympics the following week. However, because the number of competitions die down, it is hard to keep the intensity high and shooters sharp heading into Nationals.
"That is the coaches' thing is to try and keep the kids motivated through July," he said.
The Hellgate Civilian Shooters are holding a rifle raffle through March 28. All of the shooters have tickets for $10 each for a Weatherby Vanguard 6.5 caliber with 3X9 scope. Tickets can be purchased from Sam by calling 406-210-5171. The drawing will take place March 28. All proceeds will be used to help fund their travel expenses to the Regional and National Competition.
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