Shooters from across Wisconsin competed in the annual Wisconsin State B B Gun Championship held at the Bloomer Rod and Gun Club.
The Chippewa County 4-H Shooting Sports B B Gun team again took home the first place in the championship.
This year’s team was anchored by Kylee Seidl of Stanley, and Michael Mayer of Chippewa Falls, who were high scorers in last year’s tournament. Their teammates are Colton Bowe of Chippewa Falls, Madelyn Wahl of Tilden and Isaac Blum of Bloomer. This year because both Colton and Madelyn are 13 years old the entire team had to compete in the older age group.
Bowe and Wahl tied for 2nd place with a score of 322 points out of 400, but Bowe won the tie breaker by scoring 4 perfect tens compared to Wahl’s 3. Thus giving Bowe the Silver NRA medallion and Wahl the Bronze NRA medallion.
Seidl topped her team age group with a score of 290-1X; Mayer shot 264-1X and Blum 245-3X.
Chippewa County fielded 11 individual shooters at the event. Competitors came from as far away as Beloit and Iron River.
The first placing in the state qualifies the team to go to the Daisy National B B Gun Championship Match (Daisy Nationals). However, it is standard rules in National Youth Rifle tournaments that a youth cannot compete in the Nationals two years in a row. This is done in the 4-H program, the NRA and the Dairy Nationals. This allows the most youth to take in the experience.
With two shooters in the 13 year and older age group, the other three 11-year-olds would have to compete with the older age group teams. The two-year difference is big at that age. The team will not journey to the Nationals this year. This may seem strange to pass up this opportunity, but team coach, Joe Tiry, said that in his 40 years of youth rifle coaching he has seen this successfully done many times. With a solid program behind them giving the younger shooters time to get tournament experience pays off. This is like red shirting a basketball player.
The event is sponsored by Daisy Air Guns and administered using NRA B B Gun National Rules. The Daisy Nationals are held in Rogers, Arkansas, the home of Daisy. The Bloomer Rod and Gun Club has been a longtime supporter of the county wide 4-H Shooting Sports Programs.
Tiry also noted that with the archery program scouring the area to obtain funding to go to their nationals it would be hard for the B B gun parents to secure funding this year.
