Five Frederick County 4-H Club “Fire Power” members recently participated in the publicly promoted “American Marksman” Contest, which is to become a TV show series similar to the Top Shots show. While the contest was not an actual “4-H” event, all used their knowledge and skills learned through 4-H, which gave them the confidence to participate. All five qualified at the state level to move onto the two-day Regional Match, which was held at Liberty Range Peacemaker National Training Center in West Virginia. Four of the members (all young ladies) decided to compete at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Match with individuals from seven other states with a shot at Nationals and $50,000.

Natalie Schiazzi (2015 Club President), Rachel Summers (2016 Club President) and Ashley Grimes (2016 Club Vice President) competed in the “Women’s” category, while Morgan Farmer (Club Reporter) competed in the “Junior” category for twelve- to sixteen-year-old youth (boys and girls). All four took the opportunity to practice at the local Machine Gun Nest Indoor Range in Frederick before the Regional Match.

The two-day long Match included five-staged shooting event range areas that participants rotated on a schedule and were scored for safety, procedures, accuracy, and time, with various types of firearms provided. Film crews documented the weekend, too, adding to the excitement.

All four young ladies did very well in their age categories and made some new 4-H Shooting Sports friends from as far away as Vermont and North Carolina! Morgan earned a Medal and placed tenth overall for the Juniors. In the Women’s category, Natalie placed fifth in the .223 100 yard “gong” event and twelfth overall; Ashley placed fourth in the .22 rifle event and nineteenth overall. Rachel placed seventeenth in the .9mm Crimson Trace Dark House scenario event, with a #24 overall ranking. Local resident Leigh Peper of the Machine Gun Nest also placed eighth overall in the Women’s category. Nationals are being held in Talladega, Alabama, in January, with the TV show to air in the spring of 2017.

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Pictured from left are Ashley Grimes, Morgan Farmer, Natalie Schiazzi, and Rachel Summers at Liberty Range in West Virginia.

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