Mineral County junior shooters sweep national qualifiers

At last count, there were a total of six national shooting championships that Mineral County junior shooters can qualify for: either at their home range through a postal match or by traveling to shoulder match “qualifiers” hosted elsewhere around the state. 

With two nationally ranked shooters, eighteen-year-old Dahkota Hayes and seventeen-year-old Mackenzie Crabb, and a strong contingent of up-and-comers, Mineral County didn’t miss qualifying for any of those National Championships. 

At the NRA Sectional held in Belgrade, MT, the last weekend of February, Dahkota and Mackenzie traded first and second place in the three position sporter and standing events.  The Montana Rifle and Pistol Association (MRPA)-sponsored teams will attend the NRA National Junior Air Gun Championship in Camp Perry, Ohio, the last week of June.  Dahkota and Mackenzie made Montana’s sporter air rifle team along with Trey Holliday and Ticer Nelson of Gallatin County 4-H.

The MRPA also sponsors a three-member air pistol team to represent Montana at the Progressive Air Pistol Championship held this July in Anniston, Alabama.  David McGuffey, Mineral County’s lone air pistol shooter, created a little history of his own by becoming the first pistol shooter from the county to qualify for a National Championship.  He did so with a second place finish at the NRA Sectional guaranteeing him a spot on the state team and a trip to Anniston this summer.

During the State Shooting Sports Competition in Bozeman, which is always the first weekend of March, Gallatin County sponsored Montana’s National Junior Olympic qualifier. Mineral County fielded a sporter air rifle team consisting of Dahkota Hayes, Mackenzie Crabb, Luke Boyce and Aidan Patko. They were competing for the chance to attend the National Junior Olympics also at Camp Perry the first week of July.  Their team score exceeded the automatic qualification score of 2000, so four more Mineral County shooters punched their tickets to a National Championship, the National Junior Olympics (Air Rifle).

Annually, the most popular 4-H shooting competition in Montana is the “State Shoot” in Bozeman, where invitations to attend 4-H Nationals are offered to the top four shooters in each shooting discipline. 

Mackenzie Crabb had another stellar performance that weekend when he finished as the “match winner” in all air rifle events: 30- shots prone, three position and sporter standing.  According to his mother, Cheryl Crabb, he was “on a roll.”  Mackenzie was with familiar company at the top of the standings.  Dahkota Hayes was next in the rankings, also qualifying for the national 4-H competitions to be held in San Antonio, Texas, this summer. 

Shooters may compete at the 4-H National Championship only one time in each shooting discipline.  Since Dahkota previously competed in air rifle in 2008, she cannot return a second time in that event, opening the invitation to another Montana shooter over 14 years old.

Instead, Dahkota made a first-time appearance at the US Army National Championship in Fort Benning, Georgia over spring break.  She qualified for the US Army Championship with a 5th place finish nationally out of more than 700 shooters.  She was the first shooter from Mineral County to compete at the US Army’s premiere shooting tournament for juniors.

Finally, Mineral County shooters Dahkota Hayes and Mackenzie Crabb are awaiting official word on their attendance at the American Legion 2011 National Junior Air Rifle Championship in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  Dahkota and Mackenzie improved their scores through two rounds of competition to finish in the top fifteen shooters out of over 800 competitors in the preliminary postal match. 

After their first round, scores placed them in the top thirty, they moved into the qualification round where they shot another set of targets for the chance to advance to Nationals.  Invitations to compete at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs are extended to the top fifteen shooters nationally.  Dahkota and Mackenzie made the cut with excellent scores placing them in the top ten and a guaranteed trip south.

So while the 2010-2011 tournament season is winding down for Mineral County’s 4-H shooting sports, the excitement and expectancy of competing at National Championships has been escalating in recent weeks for at least five local shooters, their parents, and coaches.