Matt Rawlings Narrowly Defeats Jonathan Hall in Air Rifle Open Class and Amos Peck Tops Juniors at 2012 Camp Perry Open
OutdoorHub 02.21.12
CPL Matt Rawlings, 27, U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, narrowly defeated Jonathan Hall, 23, of Columbus, Georgia, in the precision air rifle open class at the 2012 Camp Perry Open held here 14-15 January. The Camp Perry Open features a two-day ISSF 60-shot X2 standing match, plus finals and a one-day junior three-position precision and sporter air rifle match with finals.
In what amounted to a tune-up for Part 2 of USA Shooting’s Olympic Trials for Airgun, held on the same range in February, Hall pressured Rawlings much like he did in the Trials for Airgun Part 1 in November in Anniston, Alabama.
In the November event Hall finished third behind Rawlings and Matt Emmons to lead the men who are vying to win two open slots at the 2012 London Games. Without Emmons at the Camp Perry Open, Hall ably stepped in and challenged Rawlings throughout the event at the CMP North Marksmanship Center, leading after Day I, 1186 to 1185.
On Day II Hall opened the door to Rawlings in the final firing 9.5 and 9.8 on his third and fourth shots. Rawlings emerged the winner with a 103.1 to Hall’s 102.3, overcoming his own miscue, a 9.4 on the first shot, to amass a 1391.9 aggregate to Hall’s 1391.5.
Meghann Morrill, 24, of Charlottesville, Virginia, finished a close third at 1390.8. Morrill is currently 2.5 points back in fourth place in the women’s air rifle division of the USAS Trials for Airgun behind Sandra Scherer, 20, of Woburn, Massachusetts, Emily Caruso, 33, of Colorado Springs and Jamie Gray (formerly Beyerle) 26, of Phenix City, Alabama. Gray finished fifth overall at 1389 in the open division in the Camp Perry Open. The women will also compete in the Trials Part 2 at Camp Perry. Scherer and Caruso did not participate in the Camp Perry Open.
In junior air rifle, Amos Peck, 17, of Leslie, Michigan, placed first in precision air rifle with an aggregate of 1380.7, good for seventh place overall. Peck finished with a qualifying score of 1179 and fired finals of 101.4 and 100.3 respectively in the two-day event. Ryan Anderson, 17, of Great Falls, Virginia, finished in second place with an aggregate score of 1367.1 and Adam Wheland, 16, of Williamsburg, Pennsylvania, placed third with a score of 1361.3. Anderson and Wheland finished in eighth and ninth position overall. Tyler Luce, 17, of Sturgis, Michigan and Amanda Luoma, 17, of Cortland, Ohio were fourth and fifth respectively. A total of 107 shooters participated in the air rifle 60 X2 event.
Four disabled shooters participated in the Camp Perry Open air rifle 60 X2 match and were led by SFC Josh Olson, of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit. Olson was recently named to the U.S. Paralympic rifle team and will compete in the London Games this summer. Olson fired an 1198 aggregate with matching Day I and II scores of 599.
Thomas Monto, 70, of Midland, Michigan, placed second with 1183 while Greg Drown, 51, of Fremont, Ohio, placed third with 1107 and Viktor White, 19, of State College, Pennsylvania, placed fourth with an aggregate of 1042.
In air pistol competition, SFC Daryl Szarenski, 43, of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, placed first in the open division with an aggregate score of 1353.5, followed closely by Brian Beaman, 26, of Selby, South Dakota, at 1352.9 and SPC Greg Markowski, of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, who fired 1352.3. Similar to air rifle, the pistol match was a two-day 60 shot X2 match with finals.
Szarenski leads all men’s pistol competitors heading into the USAS Olympic Trials for Airgun, with the second slot open to a field of excellent shots, including Beaman, SPC Markowski, 38 and SFC Thomas Rose, 36, also of the USAMU. SFC Rose placed fourth in the Camp Perry Open competition.
The air pistol junior champion is Joseph Totts, 19, of Mogadore, Ohio, who fired an aggregate score of 1285.8. Tots amassed a qualification score of 1095 and fired finals of 91.9 and an outstanding air pistol score of 98.9 on Days I and II, respectively.
Jordan Akow, 17, of Columbus, Ohio, finished in second place with an aggregate score of 1276.2. He fired finals of 92.7 and 92.5. Kathryn Robertson, 17, of Lynden, Ontario, placed third among juniors with an aggregate score of 1265.5. Rounding out the top five were James McCaig, 19, of Columbia, Tennessee and Clay Beckholt, 18, of Columbus, Ohio.
For complete results of the Camp Perry Open, log onto http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/report_matchResult.cgi?matchID=7623. To view photos from the event, log on to http://cmp1.zenfolio.com.