submitted by James Lee
The final match on the 4 match season was held March 2, 2013 at the Southborough Rod and Gun club. In total 48 competitors from Harvard Sportsman Association, Holliston Sportsmen’s Association, Marlborough Fish and Game, Maspenock Rod and Gun Club, Maynard Rod and Gun and Southborough Rod and Gun Club participated. The large number of participants kept the firing line occupied from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm to complete all 8 relays.
Each of the competitions consisted of three concurrent matches. Newer competitors shot only in the prone (lying down) position while more advanced competitors fired a three-position match firing from prone, standing and kneeling. The scores of the top four shooters on each team are added to get the team score. This scoring format allows as many competitors as would like to try a chance to have their score help their team.
In the prone-only match there were 13 competitors representing Holliston Sportsmen’s Association, Marlborough Fish and Game, Maspenock Rod and Gun Club, Maynard Rod and Gun and Southborough Rod and Gun Club. First place in prone went to Natasha Arseneau from Marlborough with a 279 out of 300. Kelsie Phaneuf of Southborough took second with a 245 and Marcus Mojica of Maspenock took third with a 243.
In the three-position match, Ryan Darrow of Maspenock took individual first with 275 Tyler Lefebvre of Southborough second with 272 and Abby Monique of Southborough, third with 269.
Across the 4 match season a total of 71 youths had a chance to represent their club with 11 from Harvard, 9 from Holliston, 22 from Marlborough, 11 from Maspenock, 7 from Maynard and 11 from Southborough. Each of the clubs had many more participants who chose not to participate in the matches.
For the team scores Maspenock took first with 1006 based on the scores of Ryan Darrow 275, Dan Reynolds 249, Chris Rooney 248 and Laura Kacir 234. Second for this match went to Southborough with a team score of 946 with the scores from Tyler Lefebvre 272, Abby Monique 269, John Renzoni 217, and Joel Gardner 188. Marlborough edged out Harvard for third with a 928 vs Harvards 926. Malboroughs score was based on AJ Carmody 264, Gianna Ferrecchia 229, Colton Valchuis 221 and Will Aube 214.
For the league trophy the final team standing are: Harvard 3695, Maspenock 3583, Malborough 3521, Southborough 3155, Maynard 2682, Holliston 2583. In the past few years, Maspenock and Harvard have both been battling for first place, but with many of the experienced team members graduating from the program, next year is open to any team.
The final event for the league will be the awards banquet held at Marlborough in April. The banquet will be attended by the team members, coaches volunteers and their families. Although the league matches have finished for the season, the clubs will continue their training and practices through May (the program start and end dates are determined by each club individually). Many of the participants have goals of competing awards levels in their marksmanship program or training for state or national level competitions over the summer.
Several of the league competitors will be going on to college this fall opening up positions in many of the clubs. The clubs in the league all will restart their programs in the fall. If you have a child aged 10-18 consider contacting one of the clubs in the summer or fall to participate. No experience is necessary; each of the clubs is staffed with credentialed coaches who teach safety, fun and marksmanship. Acceptance of participants in the program is up to the individual club and is based on space and the maturity of the potential participant.
Participation in a Jr. Rifle program is safer than all other youth sports. All the coaches teach safe fire arms handling practices as the first lesson. While a typical hockey, football, soccer, baseball or other sports practice can see cuts, bruises, sprains, concussions or broken bones, this season as most youth rifle seasons was injury free.
Many thanks go out to the head coaches of the teams, the assistant coaches and volunteers and especially the Southborough kitchen crew who kept coaches, competitors parents and other volunteers well fed with breakfast and lunch.
Pictured left to right: Tyler Lefebvre (Southborough), Abby Monique (Southborough) Colton Valchuis (Marlbrough) and Haley Dickenson (Harvard).
