Ansbach's Alexander Pohlman reaches into his pocket while in the prone position during the DODEA European marksmanship championship Saturday at WIesbaden High School in Wiesbaden, Germany. In the background, teammate Collin Robertson takes aim. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)
WIESBADEN, Germany – Alexander Pohlman joined the Ansbach marksmanship program three years ago looking to make some friends.
Little did he know how special they were going to become to him or the history that was to be made during his time as a Cougar.
Yet on Saturday during the DODEA European marksmanship championships at Wiesbaden High School, Pohlman and the Cougars managed to claim the school’s first championship in the sport, beating the nine-time defending champion Stuttgart by 13 points, 2,279-2,266. Kaiserslautern took third with 2,247 points, Wiesbaden fourth with 2,239, Alconbury fifth with 2,223 and Vilseck sixth with 2,199.
Then, Pohlman himself took the individual crown with a total of 577 points, beating teammate Kalea Russell by a bull’s-eye tiebreaker, 28-23.
“It’s special to me,” Pohlman said. “All the people on this team, when I got here they welcomed me and became my friends. … and this year, we just dominated.”
Highlighting the Cougars domination, they left Wiesbaden with five trophies. To go along with the team and individual crowns, Emma Pirner fell just one point short of perfection in the prone position, totaling 199 points and earning the top honors.
Then, Ansbach received their awards for their Eastern Conference championship and the team regular-season title.
“We all put in a lot of work every day in practice and we try our best, and we’re pretty capable of doing everything,” Russell said. “We know we can do it. Every day, we think about how we can get the next 10 and how we can achieve everything and beat everyone.”
Pohlman and Russell led the way, with the veteran Pohlman going 196, 188 and 193 in the prone, standing and kneeling positions, respectively. The freshman Russell stayed more consistent across all three, posting 194, 192 and 191 in prone, standing and kneeling, respectively.
The two beat the regular-season individual champion, Leila Ybarra of Stuttgart, by just one point.
The Ansbach Cougar marksmanship team poses with its five trophies during the awards ceremony at the conclusion of the DODEA European marksmanship championship on Saturday at Wiesbaden High School in Wiesbaden, Germany. From left in front row are Collin Robertson, Laysha Bobbitt, Emma Priner, Kalea Russell and Alexander Pohlman, and in the back left is coach Christopher Buchanan. Far left if retired Maj. Robert Hase, director of Army instruction for DODEA- Europe. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)
Alconbury's Norman Snopkowski takes aim in the kneeling position during the DODEA European marksmanship championships Saturday at Wiesbaden High School in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)
Vilseck's Rheanna Salo works on her rifle during the 2023 DODEA European marksmanship championship on Saturday at Wiesbaden High School in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)
“I can’t be more proud of them,” Ansbach coach Christopher Buchanan said of Pohlman and Russell. “They were just fantastic. Everything they did, their hard work, their focus, their attention to detail, and in the end it paid off.
“I know he (Pohlman) can shoot that well. It’s just a question of him coming in and doing it, and today he rose to the occasion and was the top shooter.”
In the end, it came down to bull’s-eyes, which Pohlman found to be ironic. The junior finished fourth last season because of them.
This year, the difference came in the prone position, as the duo’s numbers in kneeling and standing canceled each other out. Pohlman totaled 14 on 20 shots, while Russell had nine.
It highlighted the friendly rivalry between the two Cougars, with Pohlman and Russell both saying they liked to let the other know when they had the better score.
“The entire season, we’ve been joking around like, ‘I shot higher than you, I shot higher than you.’ ” Pohlman said. “Tying in Euros, it feels good, but I’m just glad I ended up beating her.”
Saturday marked the end of Stuttgart’s longtime run of dominating the DODEA European finals, having won the last nine and 12 of the last 14 championships. Still, sharpshooter Ybarra said the team did well to overcome major turnover between seasons.
“Over the season, we got a new coach, we didn’t have any equipment and we had to rebuild everything,” Ybarra said. “So, coming into this competition, we were all kind of scared. I think we were all kind of nervous, but we are also happy that Ansbach won, too.”
Wiesbaden’s Cydnee Lassiter took the top spot in the kneeling position with a score of 194, while Stuttgart’s Nole Smith recorded a 192 in the standing position with 10 bull’s-eyes to be No. 1.
While the tournament marked the end of the DODEA shooting season, these six schools are not finished. All of them have qualified for the JROTC Service Championship on Feb. 9-11 at Camp Perry, Ohio, where Ansbach will be sending two squads.
Before that, though, the Cougars are celebrating history.
“This is my first year actually being in precision, and it feels really good to be a part of the team that knows it can achieve something like this,” Russell said. “We knew we had the potential, and we achieved it.”
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