submitted by Keith Jylkka
We dodged the rain showers and thunder storms and somehow got the NRA Conventional 3P match complete without interruption. Nineteen shooters from NH and MA made the trip to Hudson on Saturday, 7/10 for the NH NRA Conventional 3P Regional and State Championship. Squirrelly winds ruled the day, often seeing the 25 yard wind flags wave from 9 o’clock while 50 yard flags blew from 3 o’clock. Rather unusual at Hudson’s usually predictable range surrounded with tall pines.
Veteran shooter Bob Lynn of Windham used his scope shooting skills to school all others in the Prone match with a 399-30X. Hudson’s Brian Jylkka and Kelly Rosales of Ashland, MA both using irons followed with 398-31X and 398-28X respectively. Interesting to note that six shooters fired 398 with varying X counts.
The Standing match found Jessica Levine of Hollis top of the heap. Jess fired a very nice 390-12X. Not far behind were Brian Jylkka with 387-11X and Megan Polonsky of Wilton with a 383-13X. The only other competitor firing in the 380s was Carley Bogar, a 1st year IJ shooter from West Chesterfield. Carley finished standing with a 382-7X.
Aggregate totals at this point puts Jessica in the lead with 787, Brian close behind with 785 and Megan solid in 3rd with 781. Carley hangs in closely at 4th with 780.
With the Regional and State Championships still realistic for any of these shooters, Kneeling will make or break the day. Thunder threatens from the south but hangs in the distance passing with fortunance. Rain wets the target papers yet the holes still punch cleanly as lead finds its way. Stage one of kneeling brings a draw to the Championship. The leader, Jessica, is in with a 197. But Brian says, not so fast Jessica, and produces a nearly clean 199. Still, Megan fires a strong 197 but the championship is now mathematically out of reach. Jess and Brian are now tied for the Championship leaving only stage 2 of Kneeling as the determining factor.
Call it Nail Biting 101, wait while the scorers drop their plugs and make their expert analysis of the holey wet targets. Then wait some more while another statistical guy tries to rank all the matches and determine all the various awards that must be announced.
For the Championship… Jessica and Brian or Brian and Jessica. It’s Jessica Levine who fires the winning 20 shot string. Jess finishes the day with a 197 for stage 2 of Kneeling while Brian tallies a 195. Jessica wins the Regional and State Conventional 3P Championship for 2010.
Large congratulations are in order for the following aggregate award winners:
* Jessica Levine – Regional Gold Medallion and State Champion – 1181-47X
* Brian Jylkka – Regional Silver Medallion and Junior State Champion – 1179-58X
* Megan Polonsky – Regional Bronze Medallion and 1st Junior – 1176-48X
* Carley Bogar – 1st IJ – 1166-40X
* Lacey Hamelin – 1st SJ – 994-11X
* Bob Lynn and Brian Jylkka – Team Champions – 2345-115X
* Megan Polonsky and Anthony Squeglia – Team 2nd Place – 2328-92X
* Rick Johnson and Kelly Rosales – Team 3rd Place – 2313-75X
Thanks to everyone who made the trip to Hudson.
Special thanks goes out to Steve Hanscom, Brian Driscoll, Merle Auclair, Jason Squeglia, Chip Wambsganns, Dave Polonsky, John Cialek and Vern for all your help with Match Operations.
Complete results can be downloaded here: 2010-nh-conv-3p-state-champ (PDF, 12KB)
