Ansbach’s Sydney Mendoza finished with the team’s high score and a season best with her family in attendance for her performance during the DODEA-Europe marksmanship competition at Vilseck High School on Dec. 9, 2023. (Michael Slavin/Stars and Stripes)
Ansbach’s marksmanship team likes the view from the top.
The Cougars, who dethroned longtime champion Stuttgart in last season’s DODEA-Europe championship – ending a 10-year title run by the Panthers – won their second straight meet Saturday to enter the winter break as the team to beat.
Ansbach edged Vilseck 1,130-1,120, with Stuttgart coming in third at 1,114 despite having two of the day’s top five shooters.
“Even after we lost a couple of key members from last year’s team, I think we have a good shot at keeping our crown,” said Ansbach’s Alexander Pohlman, the team captain and reigning individual champion. “(Stuttgart) will have to fight to get it back.”
Ansbach has the second smallest enrollment of schools in Europe that field marksmanship teams with 101 students registered in high school through early December. Only Baumholder, with 83, is smaller. Vilseck and Stuttgart are both Division I schools, with the Panthers’ 743 students second only to Ramstein in terms of grades 9-12 population.
Sydney Mendoza finished with a team-high 288 points of a potential 300. Vilseck’s Emily Dahle was the only shooter to outscore Mendoza, finishing with 292 and was first in the standing position and tied Pohlman atop the prone.
Pohlman, third with 287, had the top score in the kneeling position and tied Dahle for the top spot in the prone with seven bullseyes.
The marksmanship season is one of the shortest in DODEA-Europe and concludes with three meets in January before the season-ending championships Jan. 27 in Ansbach.
Ansbach’s Kenton Duplessie puts pellets to paper in the standing position during the DODEA-Europe marksmanship competition at Vilseck High School on Dec. 9, 2023. (Michael Slavin/Stars and Stripes)
Shooters dial in their shots in the standing position during the morning's first relay of the DODEA-Europe marksmanship competition at Vilseck High School on Dec. 9, 2023. (Michael Slavin/Stars and Stripes)
Stuttgart shooter Nole Smith finished the day only dropping five points in her standing position during the DODEA-Europe marksmanship competition at Vilseck High School on Dec. 9, 2023. (Michael Slavin/Stars and Stripes)
Ansbach marksmanship team captain Alexander Pohlman sights in during the test shots for the prone position before the scoring period commences during the DODEA-Europe marksmanship competition at Vilseck High School on Dec. 9, 2023. (Michael Slavin/Stars and Stripes)
Vilseck’s Rheanna Salo concentrates on her breathing before starting the prone shooting position during the DODEA-Europe marksmanship competition at Vilseck High School on Dec. 9, 2023. (Michael Slavin/Stars and Stripes)
