The Lake Region Shooting Sports Association played host to precision air rifle athletes from around the state this past weekend. We have been the host for this tournament of over 20 years now, and our young LRSSA athletes have done very well. These matches are fired from the standing position at targets set 10 meters away. In order to shoot a 10, the shooter’s .177 caliber pellet has to hit a dot the size of the period at the end of this sentence. It takes years of training and discipline to do that on a regular basis.
On Saturday, Rachel Vaagen and Casia Steinhaus put on quite a show in the State Championship Match. Casia and Rachel fired side by side. Rachel’s first two targets scored 98 and 96 while Casia fired a 99 and a 96 to give herself a 1 point lead. Rachel’s next two targets were a 97 and a 96 while Casia fired a 96 and a 97 to hold onto her lead. Rachel then fired a 97 and a 98 to finish with a 582. Casia was able to duplicate that to finish with a 583. Neither of them blinked or shied from the pressure as each of their final shots were 10s.
After 2220 pellets were fired down range for score over the two day matches, Casia earned the State Championship Trophy, Rachel was second and Piper Koller of Fingal, ND earned third place.
Isaac Vaagen held first place in the Junior Sectional (which is a 40 shot match) after Saturday’s relays were complete and Tessa Anton of Bismarck, ND was in second place. Casia fired her Sectional match targets on Sunday and shot an outstanding 392 to take the gold medal. Isaac and Tessa held on to earn the silver and bronze medals.
Casia, Rachel and Isaac are all members of the Lake Region Shooting Sports Association and Ramsey County 4H Shooting Sports. Our next match will be the Civilian Marksmanship State 3 Position Air Rifle State Championship held here in Devils Lake on March 16.
Isaac has earned an invitation to compete in the National USA Shooting Junior Olympic men’s air rifle match which will be held in Anniston, Alabama, beginning on April 13. Casia has earned invitations to compete in both the women’s air rifle and women’s smallbore National USA Shooting Junior Olympic matches at Anniston and Talladega. They will have a great experience, and we wish them all the best.
