Julia Hatch, a Northfield Middle School 8th grader, takes aim during The USA Junior Woman’s Olympic Shooting Competition held in Colorado Springs. Julia was one of only two girls from Vermont. Photo By Joe Hatch This year The USA Junior Woman’s Olympic Shooting Competition was held at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

There our nation’s best junior shooters competed in two competitions, 10 meter air rifle and 50 meter 3 position smallbore (.22). The shooters are broken down into three categories based on age; J1 ages 18-20, J2 ages 15-17 and J3- ages 14 and under. The young people that compete here are the top 1% of this sport.

Two young women from Vermont qualified, Victoria Brown from Burlington (a J1) shot in the air rifle matches and Julia Hatch of Northfield (a J3) competed in both the air rifle and smallbore.

118 women shoot in air rifle’s two matches over consecutive days; each match consists of 40 shoots offhand (standing).

Victoria shot a combined 758 of 800 possible points and placed her in 60th. In her first match, Julia shot 375, a personal best; the second match she fired a 364 tying her previous best for a combined total of 739 placing her 104 overall and 7th for J3’s. The winner of the match was Sarah Scherer of Texas (a J1) shooting a combined 790.

In smallbore, 70 shooters competed. This competition consisted of two matches held on consecutive days. The shooters fire from three positions; prone, offhand and kneeling. Two targets for each position for a total of 600 possible points per match, total combined 1200 possible points. In the first match Julia fired 529, lower then her normal score and she was not pleased. In the second match she fired a 540, for a combined score of 1069 placing her in 62 spot and 4th for J3’s. The winner of smallbore was Amanda Furrer from Washington (a J1) shooting 1168.

Victoria is a High school senior and veteran of these matches, accepted on this trip, a scholarship to attend the University of Akron where she will major in Engineering and continue her shooting career in NCAA competition. Julia an 8th grader in Northfield will continue competing for the Northfield Rifle club coached by Jack Baroffio and hopes to take what she has learned here to qualify to return next year. Both these young women represented Vermont, their respective schools, families and most importantly themselves very well. They should be proud of their efforts as we are of them.

Shooting is a great and safe sport; it takes precision, emotional control, mental fortitude and commitment, said Ms. Hatch.

The Northfield Rifle Club is always looking for new members and has a new home range in Northfield (on the loop road). Younger shooters start off with competition Daisy BB guns and move into air rifle and smallbore. If you are interested in shooting, contact Jack Baroffio at 485- 3311