by Digby Hand
Eight New Hampshire juniors were invited to participate in the 2009 New Hampshire Junior Invitational Rifle Championship which was, for all intents and purposes, a shooting triathlon. Each competitor fired an English Match and a full course of three position with the smallbore rifle followed by a 60 shot standing match with a final under USA Shooting rules.
Fresh from his recent participation in the USA Shooting Winter Air Gun Championships Brian Jylkka opened the tournament with a nip and tuck battle with his brother Mike Jylkka in the English Match. Mike jumped out to a quick start out shooting Brian by three points in the first 20 shot string. Brian evened things out in the third string by shooting the only perfect score of the day prone to his brother’s 97. Over the next 20 shots Brian clawed back into the lead by a single point. Brian’s last ten shot string was a 99 to Mike’s 97, giving him a two point lead and the win, 588 to 586. Megan Polonsky was in third with a 580.
The first four cards prone in the English Match served as the prone phase of the three position event and going into standing the match was tight; Mike with a 392, Brian a 391, Polonsky with a 389 and Carley Bogar shooting a 388. Brian and Polonsky both opened with 93s but on the second card Jessica Levine banged off a 97 so at the end of 20 shots Levine lead with a 184 just ahead of a 182 fired by Polonsky, and Brian’s 179. Things changed again after the second stage with Brian posting a 183, Levine a 179, and Polonsky a 177. The aggregate standing scores saw Brian just slip by Levine, 365 to 363 with Polonsky in third with a 359.
With an eight point lead over Polonsky and 12 points on Levine, Brian had a bit of breathing room as the kneeling match started. He opened it up by a point over Polonsky, 185 to 184, with the first two targets as Levine slipped out of contention for the gold with scores in the 80s. Brian nailed down the win in both kneeling and the phase with a 187 to Polonsky’s 181. Brian won the three position match with an 1125, Polonsky was second and Levine third, 1108 and 1098 respectively.
Levine immediately made it clear that she was not going quietly as she opened with a pair of 97s in the air rifle event for a 194. Polonsky answered with a 190, Anthony Squeglia had a fine 187 and Joe Bogar and Brian posted 187s. Hard holding Levine held her own during the second stage with a 191, marked by a perfect 100 on the second card, in spite of Brian’s 193. Joe Bogar had a 190 while Polonsky and Carley Bogar shot 189s. Levine stayed in control of the match during the final 20 shots as she shot a 99 on her last card for a 580 aggregate. Brian managed a 571 as Polonsky edged out Joe Bolgar’s 563 with her 565.
The ten shot air rifle final was the last hoop the shooters had to jump through before the match ended. It was a bit like a 100 yard dash to decide the winner of a marathon. After 200 shots the field had considerable energy left as all shot above 90 in the final. Polonsky’s outstanding 99 was the top score, and in descending order was a 97 by Levine, 96 from Joe Bogar, Brian’s 95, a 93 from Squeglia, and 91s from Carley Bogar, Mike Jylkka, and John Cialek.
When all of the scores were tallied Brian Jylkka emerged the gold medalist with a score of 1988X2100, Megan Polonsky put together a 1968X2100 for silver, while bronze medal winner Jessica Levine had a 1965X2100.
A dedicated Merle Auclair, Jason Squeglia, and Keith Jylkka helped score the marathon of targets and make the match a success.
Great write up and congrats to all the shooters — well done!