National Junior Olympic Rifle Championships Close Out With A Lot of New Faces on the Medal Stand
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – USA Shooting’s National Junior Olympic Rifle Championships finished up on Apr. 5, at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. And although the point of any Junior Olympics is to get the younger generation involved and competing against their peers, these Junior Olympics saw a whole new group of young rifle shooters making their way on to the medal stand.
In men’s air rifle, Wesley Hess, a J1 shooter from Texas, grabbed his first gold medal in this event. Hess shot a 1,180 qualifying score with a final of 101.8 for a total score of 1,281.8, two points over his closest competitor, Jason Dardas, of Michigan. This will be Dardas’ first year on the National Development Team. Whereas, Joseph and Jonathan Hall, of Carrollton, Ga., who made a name for themselves after their great performance at last year’s Nationals, finished three and four respectively.
Joseph Hall, who is shooting for Jacksonville State University along with his older brother James, was able to grab the gold in men’s three-position with a tremendous score of 2,440.7, over 20 points higher than last year’s winning score. Christopher Abalo (Glendora, Calif.) clinched second with a 2,421.5, while Joshua Albright (Annapolis, Md.) finished in third with a 2,389.3
In women’s air rifle the surprises continued as newcomer Jessica Jasis, of Kentucky, won this event with a 881.8. Meghann Morrill came in second with a 879.9, while Caitlin Morrissey finished third with a 878.6. These finishes for Jasis and Morrill place them on their very first National Development Team. 2004 Olympian and last year’s winner, Sarah Blakeslee, fell into fourth with a 878.1, seven points lower than her last year’s score.
Blakeslee, an Olympic Training Center resident athlete, was able to pull off a win in her second event, women’s three-position rifle, with a 1,256.0 total score. Blakeslee won the gold medal last year in this event, as well, but with a 1,263 total score. Second place went to Jennifer Pason (Milford, NJ) with a 1246.3, and third went to Leah Wilcox with a 1245.1.
The National Junior Olympic Pistol Championships start Thursday, Apr. 7, with women’s sport pistol being held on the upper range, and men’s air on the lower range at the U.S. Olympic Shooting Complex. For full results from this event, please log on to www.usashooting.org and click on results. For more information on the Junior Olympics, please call 719-866-4883.
Rifle JO results
Moderators: pilkguns, m1963, David Levene, Spencer, Richard H
