Area youth competed in the State BB Gun Championships held at the Chippewa Falls National Guard Armory, with young shooters coming from as far away as Sheboygan and Green County.
A top competitor for the last four years, Kylee Seidl of Stanley, scored 340-5X out of a possible 400 points. Teammate Madelynn Wahl of Tilden edged out Seidl by 12 points to claim a medallion. Seidl took home 5th place statewide overall combining all four positions with 4th place in the prone position (laying), 5th in the sitting position, 8th in kneeling, and 13th in the standing position. Kylee took home the Bronze Medal in her age group.
Also competing for the area as a first-year shooter was Aaron Peterson, competing in all four positions and ending with a 27th place statewide with a score of 245-3X. His best finish was in the standing position with 16th place and 57-1X points.
Shooters also competed in a 5-shooter team event. The Chippewa County Team finished 2nd with 1690-21X handily edged out by the Richland County Team who had 1755-37X points. With Seidl and Wahl on the team, it was expected that the score would be closer, as last year the local team won by 3 points. However, several shooters on last year’s team moved up to shoot air rifle competition. This left Chippewa County with a younger team.
Chippewa County also had a younger age group team with Peterson shooting on it. That team took 1st in the younger age group with 1396-13X points.
This Gun Safety and Marksmanship Program starts every year on the second Saturday in February and lasts for 8 Friday evening sessions. The program leads to the State B B Gun Championships and Air Rifle Sectional and ends with an awards banquet. The program is known for its emphasis on safety as each shooter gets a gun assigned to them and is under constant and direct supervision of trained instructors. This 8 weeklong supervision engraves a positive attitude towards gun safety that is likely to last a lifetime. The program also offers a competitive air rifle option for older youth shooters. The B B Gun Championships are nationally sponsored by Daisy Manufacturing, and the Air Rifle Sectionals are nationally sponsored by the NRA Competitive Shooting Division.
The course, practices and tournaments are administered by the Chippewa County Shooting Sports 4-H Program.