Ansbach senior Kiley Schreurs aims her precision air rifle at Saturday's DODDS-Europe marksmanship championships at Baumholder, Germany. Schreurs was the top scorer for the year in DODDS-Europe competition. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
Ansbach senior Kiley Schreurs aims her precision air rifle at Saturday's DODDS-Europe marksmanship championships at Baumholder, Germany. Schreurs was the top scorer for the year in DODDS-Europe competition. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
Hohenfels sophomore Erin Redden takes aim in the standing position at the 2011 DODDS-Europe marksmanship championships. Redden led the Tiger scorers with 278 points. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
Heidelberg junior Nathan Johnson takes aim at the 2011 DODDS-Europe marksmanship championships at Baumholder, Germany. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
Heidelberg senior Katelyn Bronell fires from the standing position at the 2011 DODDS-Europe marksmanshjp championships at Baumholder, Germany. Bronell led all scorers with 281 points. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
Vilseck sophomores Malia Carson, left, and Christy Chanin get their precision air rifles adjusted before taking aim at Saturday's 2011 DODDS-Europe marksmanship championships at Baumholder High School. Chanin led all shooters in the prone position scoring 99 points out of a possible 100 as Vilseck took second in the tournament. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
Bamberg coach Prince Young gives advice to Bamberg sophomore shooter Allan Dow before the second firing group started Saturday at the 2011 DODDS-Europe marksmanship championships at Baumholder, Germany. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
Patch junior Mercedes Romih checks where her shots landed during the 2011 DODDS-Europe marksmanship championships at Baumholder, Germany. Patch, the two-time defending champs, finished third in the tournament. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
Vilseck sophomore Ocean Yales shoots from the prone position at Saturday's DODDS-Europe marksmanship championships at Baumholder, Germany. Vilseck finished second in the tournament, 17 points behind champion Hofenfels. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
Hohenfels sophomore Keyera Howard takes aim in the standing position at Saturday's 2011 DODDS-Europe marksmanship championships at Baumholder, Germany. Hohenfels captured the team title with 1,374 points. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
Heidelberg senior Katelyn Bronell takes aim at the 2011 DODDS-Europe marksmanship championships at Baumholder High School. Bronell led all shooters with 281 points on the day. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
BAUMHOLDER, Germany — Everyone was gunning for the two-time defending champion Patch Panthers at Saturday’s 2011 DODDS-Europe marksmanship championship and the squad from Hohenfels was right on target.
The Tigers used a strong team peformance — four of the top 10 shooters on the day were from Hohenfels — to capture the championship with 1,374 points. Vilseck finished second in the tournament, held at Baumholder High School, with 1,357 points, edging favorite Patch, which finished third by one point.
Hohenfels shooters have been some of the most consistent throughout the year, and coach Bruce Andrews said they picked the right day to continue that trend.
“Today it was enough, but if we shot tomorrow it may not have been enough,” he said.
Sophomores Erin Redden and Keyera Howard led the Tigers with 278 and 276 points, respectively, to help them regain the title they held in 2007 and 2008 before losing it to Stuttgart by two points in 2009.
“I thought we’d have a shot to win, we just had to try our hardest and we did that,” said first-year team member Howard.
Each shooter fired 10 pellets from an air rifle at a bull’s-eye target in the prone, standing and kneeling positions, with the best five scores for each team totaled for each event. The maximum number of points for each event was 100 for individuals, 500 for the team; tournament maximums were 300 individual points, 1,500 for a team.
Heidelberg senior Katelyn Bronell took the overall individual title by scoring 281 points. She also had the best score in the kneeling position firing a 96.
“I thought this year I wasn’t going to do as good as last year… I’m, oh my gosh, excited,” said Bronell, who tied for the top standing score at last year’s championship.
Vilseck sophomore Christy Chanin shot a 99 from the prone position to lead shooters in that category and Patch junior Chaz Gillespie led in the standing position with 91 points.
Patch coach Jack Wayne said he may have worn out his team trying to toughen them up.
“I pushed them too hard the week before and we’re paying for it now,” Wayne said after it became evident his team wasn’t in the hunt for this year’s title. “Today, those guys shot better than we did, That’s all there is to it.
Patch senior Allison Carlson said the team might have reached its peak last week when it fired a school-system record 1,415 out of a possible 1,500 points. Hohenfels and Patch will both be traveling to the States in February to participate in the U.S. Army JROTC championship, and Carlson said she believes her team will have plenty of time to refocus.
The Panthers will go into the match seeded second and will have another shot at Hohenfels, which will be seeded fifth in the two-day competition.
Kiley Schreurs, the Ansbach senior who earlier this year came just two points shy of a DODDS-Europe match record, edged Patch junior Mercedes Romih for the season point total championship. Schreurs finished the year with 1,400 points and Romih totaled 1,399.
“You have those thoughts, they’re gonna find that point somewhere and take it away from me … it’s still not real,” Schreurs said.
Second-place finisher Vilseck is already looking forward to next year’s team that will return five of the top six shooters.
“Every match they’ve gotten a little bit better…. They’re relaxed, they laugh, they giggle and they have a good time,” said Falcon coach Mitch Pollock.
Team scores1) Hohenfels, 1,374; 2) Vilseck, 1,357; 3) Patch, 1,356; 4) Ansbach 1,322; 5) Bamberg 1,257; 6) Heidelberg 1,256Top individual scorers(300 possible points - Prone, standing, kneeling)1) Katelyn Bronell (Heid) 281 (95, 90, 96); 2) Erin Redden (Hoh) 278 (96, 90, 92); 3 (tie) Christy Chanin (Vil) 276 (99, 82, 95), Keyera Howard (Hoh) 276 (96, 89, 91); 5 (tie) Lena Waldron (Hoh) 275 (93, 89. 93), Kiley Schreurs (Ans) 275 (95, 89, 91), Mercedes Romih (Pat) 275 (93, 90, 92); 8 (tie) Allison Carlson (Pat) 274 (93, 87, 94), Caroline Bourgeois (Hoh) 274 (96, 86, 92), Addison Flynn (Pat) 274 (91, 90, 93)Prone: 1) Chanin 99; 2 (tie) Redden, Howard, Bourgeois, Georgianna Castro (Vil), Jeremy Allen (Heid) 96Standing: 1) Chaz Gillespie (Pat) 91; 2 (tie) Flynn, Bronnel, Redden, 90. (90)Keeling : 1) Bronell, 96; 2 Chanin, 95; 3 (tie) Carlson, Meraleigh Randle (Vil) 94
