2009 Illinois Service Rifle Championship

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For yet another year our Service Rifle Championship was afforded great weather with blue skies and pleasant temperatures. Raising the competitive bar was the US Army Reserve Rifle Team that shot with us this weekend.

Leading off the individual championship by winning the offhand match was eight-time state service rifle champion, John Holliger with a 194-6x. But his win was just on tie-breaking rules as Konrad Powers also had a 194-6x. The other 194 was shot by former Illinois junior SFC Norman Anderson. Two other members of the Army Reserve, SFC Leslie Lewis and Elliot Farro, were just one point back with 193's.

The sitting match was won by Ed Mank with his 200-16. Contributing to Ed's score was a 10x clean on his second string. The other 200's shot were John Lowe's 11x, MSG Jack Pardy's 9x, and Dave Germain's 9x. Powers, MSG Richard Kalina, Holliger, and John Wilson all shot 199's.

Coming off the 200 yard line Powers and Holliger both were down 7 with Powers' 18 x's leading Holliger's 15. Pardy, Farro, and Lewis were three points behind the leaders.

At 300 Pardy was the only shooter to not drop any points making him perfect in the rapid fires today. Lennis Berkland, Anderson, and Farro each only dropped one. At this point Powers was still leading but only by the slim margin of one point ahead of Pardy and two points ahead of Farro.

While his 300 rapid score was not up to his usual standards, John Holliger came back strong by posting the winning score of 199 in slow prone. He was clean through 18 shots at 600 when the wind caught him for his only nine. Lewis dropped two here, Anderson four, and Powers and MAJ. Scott Klawon dropped five.

In the final tally Powers came out ahead of Holliger by one point winning his second service rifle championship. Pardy was high service shooter and third overall.

We all appreciated the efforts of Bob Levine (1987 IL Service Rifle Champion) in running the pits for both the individual and team matches. Also lending a helping hand were Mike James, Jeff Marienthal, John Lowe, Paul Mazurski and John Holliger.