Spokane County 4-H team takes third in state shooting

By AL STOVER

Staff Reporter

The Spokane County 4-H Shooting Stars came away with some hardware from the Shooting Sports Air Rifle and Air Pistol competition, June 3-4, held at the Jensen Memorial Youth Ranch in Medical Lake and the Spokane Valley Rifle and Pistol Club.

The team comprised of first-year competitors Kirsten Gilbert, Kahlan Jayne, Morgan Sleyko and Kurtis Klein finished third overall.

Jim Cavender, the team's coach, explained that Spokane County won the bid to host the championships this year. The competition was also attended by clubs from Klickitat, Kittitas, Walla Walla and Stevens counties.

On the first day, athletes competed in a standard three-position sporter air rifle relay where contestants had to take 60 shots - 20 each prone, standing and kneeling - at two targets from 10 meters. The top seven from the relay entered into a 10-shot final.

The next contest was the sporter air rifle event where contestants took 40 standing shots at targets from the same distance.

On the second day, the team competed in the sporter air rifle silhouette event. Contestants had to shoot metallic animal silhouettes from certain distances - for example, chickens at 20 yards, pigs at 30 yards and turkeys at 36 yards - from left to right.

In individual scoring, Jayne was third in 3-position rifle, off-hand standing and silhouetted competitions and third in high overall scoring in the juniors (ages 8-10). Klein was fifth in off-hand standing while Sleyko took third in silhouette in the intermediate (ages 11-13) category.

Spokane County began practicing for the competition in January. Every Tuesday and Thursday, they would shoot at the Jensen Ranch. The team started with used equipment until Cavender and volunteers wrote grants to purchase new air rifles.

One of his goals for next year's state competition is to have more pistol shooters competing - no one from Spokane County competed in the pistol events. He would also like to see the growth of shooting sports in Spokane County.

"It's more than just shooting," Cavender said "Kids learn about discipline, dedication and perseverance."

Gilbert, who is from Medical Lake, felt her team did well in scoring, considering this was their first state competition.

"We plan on returning next year," Jayne added.

Al Stover can be reached at al@cheneyfreepress.com.