Weisenburger state champion, repeats history

MISSOULA – Seeley Lake resident Sam Weisenburger, 17, is the Montana State Champion after winning the Smallbore Indoor Rifle State Championship this past April. In addition to the highest score posted across all ages, he also won the High Junior State Champion title, the Buddy Match with his father Trace and was part of the winning four-person team.

The Montana State Indoor Conventional and Metric Position Smallbore Rifle Championships were conducted in Missoula the weekend of April 13 and in Lewistown the weekend of April 27. There were 28 competitors in the state championship, 16 in Missoula plus 12 in Lewistown. Six teams competed in the Buddy Match and three teams competed in the Team Match.

The Conventional Position Match included four positions: prone, standing, sitting and kneeling. Trace shot a 786 and Sam shot a 782. The Metric Position Match included three positions: prone, standing and kneeling. Sam shot a 565 and Trace shot a 551. The scores are combined to name the state champion.

"I got him by four points and he turned around and got me by 14 in the other," said Trace and laughed. "He got me but that's okay, I don't practice. I just coach all the time and only pull out the gun once or twice a year."

That was not the case when Trace was in high school. Trace also won the State Championship when he was 17-years-old.

"That was kind of cool to have him do that as well – when I was 17 I won it and now when he was 17 he gets to win it," said Trace.

"It's come full circle," said Sam when he first learned of his father winning the state championship when he was 17. "It's really cool that me and my dad have kind of mirrored each other in that kind of way. We are very different people and our personalities are different but we are doing the same things and ending up getting the same result."

Sam set his sights on winning the title early this year. He has been shooting mostly air rifle, so he hadn't shot small bore for at least a month. He wasn't sure how he would compete. Not only did he win the championship but he also set a new personal record bettering his last year's state championship match by five points.

"It's just kind of fun to go out and shoot, if you do well then that is great," said Sam. "It was exciting to do as well as I did."

Sam received medals for his success as the Montana State Champion and Montana High Junior. He and Trace also won the Conventional Buddy Match with a score of 776 – 40. The Weisenburgers joined Jason Herndon and Ellis McAfee both of Missoula on the Hellgate Civilian Blue team winning with a score of 1550-74, more than 28 points ahead of the second place Circle Bushwackers.

Sam said the state championship title is a great resume builder and, "obviously it is really cool to be state champion. I wasn't concerned as much with being the best as I was with doing what I needed to do to advance."

"All of this stuff that he is doing is for one purpose – to get a college scholarship," said Trace. "He won the Montana State Championships which is great. Now he will be shooting the national championships in July.