Photo by Greg Reedy

Agustin Sanches Jr. of Riverside, Calif. had the best score in both the smallbore standard rifle and smallbore hunting rifle for the first day of the NRA National Silhouette Championships.

The NRA National Silhouette Championships got underway Sunday afternoon at the Ridgway Rifle Club. 

By Greg Reedy

Record Sports Editor

The 2008 NRA Smallbore Silhouette National Championships got underway with the first day of shooting taking place on Sunday at the Ridgway Rifle Club.
A total of 170 enthusiasts competed in the smallbore rifle and 158 competed in the smallbore hunting rifle. Each competitor gets 10 shots at four different silhouette targets – a chicken, a pig, a turkey and a ram. A perfect score is 40.
In the smallbore rifle category, Agustin Sanchez Jr. from Riverside, Calif. was the overall matchwinner for the first day with a score of 39. Matthew Everingham of Australia was second overall with 37 and Cathy Winstead-Severin of Joplin, Mo. was third with a score of 37.
In Master class, Kenneth M. Haupricht of Johnsonburg was the class winner with a score of 37. Jared Perry of Porterville, Calif. took second at 36 and Laura R. Goetsch of Whites Creek, Tenn., took third with a score of 35.
William Motl of Porter, Texas took fourth with 35 and Ben Marzella of Ridgway was fifth with a score of 35. Greg Engel of Floosmoor, Ill. was sixth with a 35 and Mark Pharr of Round Rock, Texas took seventh with a 35. Kolby Rasmussen of Lavaca, Ark. was eighth with a 35 and Brian Wakefield of Smethport was ninth with a 34. Those tied with a 35 participated in shootoffs to determine place.
In AAA class, Reann Wilson of Bozeman, Mont., won with a score of 35. Mary Watkins of Merritt Island, Fla. took second with a 34 and Scott Lurie of Browntown, Va. was third with a 34. Steve Bonson of Reedsville was fourth with a score of 34 and Kristopher Wagner of Milroy was fifth with a 32. B. Coates Watkins of Merritt Island, Fla. was sixth with a 31 and Levi Spicher of Halifax was seventh at 31. Jeff Spicher of Halifax was eighth with a 21 and Teresa Everheart of Albuquerque, N.M., was ninth with a score of 30.
In AA class, Kathryn Grigg of Shelby, N.C., won the class with a score of 30. Jorge Cigarroa of Laredo, Texas was second with a score of 28 and John McInchak of Erie was third with a score of 28. Jenna Wilson of Bozeman, Mont. was fourth with a score of 27 and Alice Styles of Australia took fifth with a 27. Patsy Hughes of Birmingham, Ala. took sixth with a score of 27 and Drew Bowersox of Milroy was seventh with a 26. Dale Perini of Hobbs, N.M., was eighth with a score of 25 and Kiyoshi Ishihara of Wilkes-Barre took ninth with a score of 25.
In A class, Austin Bennett of Keyser, W.V. was the class winner with a score of 24. Rachel Rayment of Olympia, Wash. was second with a 24 and Jose Merced Valdes Suarez of Mexico was third with a 23. Jorge Moreno Velasquez of Mexico was fourth with a 21 and Alberto Navarro Rivera of Mexico was fifth with a 20 to round out the top five.
In B class, Peter Casey of St. Marys won with a score of 12. Carol Blackburn of Young Harris, Ga. was second with a score of 12 and Amanda Ruffner of McVeytown took third with a score of 11. For Ruffner, this was just her fourth match overall and her first time competing at the national championships for the 10-year-old.
Winstead-Severin was the top women's finisher. Everingham was the Junior Champion and Steven Engel was the Senior winner. Reann Wilson was the top intermediate junior and Jenna Wilson was the top sub-junior finisher.
The first day of the smallbore hunting rifle championship was held at the Rifle Club as well on Sunday. Sanchez, Jr. was the overall champion in this category as well with a score of 39. William Motl of Porter, Texas was second overall with a score of 38. Winstead-Severin was third with a score of 37.
In Master Class, Perry won with a score of 37. Reann Wilson was second with a 36 and Paul Davis of Vancouver, Wash. was third with a 36. Rasmussen took fourth with 36 and John Shaw of Blackwood, N.J. took fifth with a 35. Goetsch was sixth with a 35 and Dennis Dadian of Clovis, Calif. took seventh with a score of 35. Dale Howard of Hazelhurst was eighth with 35 and Derek Greenaway of Howard took ninth with a score of 35.
In AAA class, Benny Grigg, Jr. of Shelby, N.C. was the champion with a score of 33. Dann Suthern of Australia was second with a 32. Watkins was third with a 31 and Bradley Maxwell of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada took fourth with a 31. Malcolm Leonard Smith of Australia was fifth with 31 and Scott Rindt of New Berlin, Wis. took sixth with a 29. Steve Bonson of Reedsville was seventh with a 28 and Jose Alfredo Valdes Gonzalez of Mexico took eight with 28. Jeffrey Thomas of Johnstown was ninth with a 28.
In the AA class, Jorge Cigarroa of Laredo, Texas won with a score of 27. David Gillispie of Reedsville, W.Va. was second with a score of 27 and Richard Steffan of Blairsville, Ga. was third with a score of 26. Tom Rains of Aurora, Colo. was fourth with a score of 26 and Austin Bennett of Keyser, W.Va. was fifth with a 26.
Robert Jodoin of Endicott, N.Y. with a 25. J. Alan McCullough of Cantonment, Fla. with a score of 25. Neal Sundberg of Endwell, N.Y., was eighth with a score of 24. Sawyer Spicher of Halifax was ninth with a 24.
In A class, Russell Wise of Independence, W. Va., won with a score of 24. Rayment was second with a 23 and Bryson Mobley of Bozeman, Mont. was third with a 23. Jorge Moreno Velasquez of Mexico was fourth with a score of 23. Alberto Navarro Rivera was fifth with a score of 20.
Carol Blackburn of Young Harris, Ga. won B class with a score of 14.
The championships continue at the Ridgway Rifle Club today. They begin at 9 a.m. and run throughout the afternoon.