USAMU Shooters Win Major Matches
Soldiers of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit have scored major victories recently, including First, Second and third in the just-completed Service Rifle Championship at Quantico. The Service rifle team competes, primarily, with an accurized version of the M16A2 rifle at distances of 200 to 1000 yards. Select members of the team also compete with bolt-action rifles equipped with both telescopic and aperture sights from 800 to 1000 yards. Below are recent winning performances by USAMU team members. USAMU shooters and coaches will also be competing in the Centennial matches at Camp Perry in the next few weeks.
Interservice Highpower Rifle Championships
Quantico, Va., July 16 to 24
USAMU service rifle shooter Sgt. 1st Class Lance S. Hopper won the Overall Individual Interservice Rifle Championship, followed by Sgt. 1st Class Grant L. Singley in second place and Sgt. 1st Class Kyle A. Ward in third. Singley won the Navy Match and Staff Sgt. William T. Pace won the Marine Corps Match. The USAMU Service Rifle Team coached by Staff Sgt. Emil Praslick III won the 2007 Interservice Rifle Championship Commanding General Team Match; shooters were Hopper, Green, Singley, Ward and Sgt. 1st Class Lance D. Dement and Spc. Matthew T. Sigrist and the team captain was Spc. Tyrel L. Cooper.
National Smallbore Rifle Matches
Camp Perry, Ohio, July 19 to 21
Sgt. Shane M. Barnhart won the National Smallbore Three Position National Championship; Lt. Col. Robert E. Harbison took third place. Barnhart also won the Three Position Any Sight Championship, in which Spc. Nicole M. Cooper finished third; Cooper also won the Women’s Championship. Second Lt. Lucas F. Leinberger placed second in the Three Position Metallic Sight Championship. The USAMU Team of Cooper, Staff Sgt. Armando R. Ayala, Cpl. Henry L. Gray and Spc. David R. Sprecher won the Three Position Any Sight Team Match and the USAMU Team of Harbison, Leinberger, Barnhart and Maj. Michael E. Anti took the Three Position Metallic Sight Team Match.
Pan-American Games
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 15 to 21
Sgt. 1st Class Jason A. Parker won Gold Medals in the Air Rifle and Three Position Free Rifle matches. Sgt. 1st Class Thomas A. Tamas received the Gold Medal in the Free Rifle Prone competition, in which Spc. Michael D. McPhail got the Silver. Spc. Joshua M. Richmond received the won the Gold Medal in the Double Trap match, followed by Spc. Jeffrey G. Holguin with the Silver. In the Skeet competition, the Gold Medal went to Pvt. 2 Vincent C. Hancock and the Silver to Sgt. 1st Class James Todd Graves.