And why shouldn't they, it was going to be a big night with a very important group of guests - the combat shooting teams from the world's premier leadership schools, America's four service academies.
Since 2007, when http://www.smith-wesson.com/>Smith & Wesson began hosting the Joint Service Academy Combat Weapons Championship (JSACWC), cadets and midshipmen from the United States Air Force Academy, the United States Coast Guard Academy, the United States Military Academy at West Point and the United States Naval Academy have been traveling to the Springfield, Mass./Hartford, Conn. area to compete.
Over 70 competitors and coaches from the four service academies took part in the 2012 Joint Service Academy Combat Weapons Championship. Photo by P. Erhardt
In recent years the match has been held, as it was this past weekend, at the www.hartfordgunclub.com/>Hartford Gun Club and staffed by a dedicated team of match officials, score keepers and safety officers pulled from the ranks of the International Defensive Pistol Association, whose scoring system is modified for use at the three-gun shooting event.
Where many matches sometimes struggle to find adequate staff support, Match Director Mike Critser found there's absolutely no shortage of volunteers when it comes to hosting the JSACWC.
Mike Critser addresses the cadets and midshipmen during the safety briefing. Photo by P. Erhardt |
Besides an eager volunteer staff, the JSACWC also pulls in support from the industry. While Smith & Wesson has taken on the lion's share of the organizing, hosting and sponsorship responsibilities, others in the industry have also lent their support, including http://black-hills.com/>Black Hills Ammunition, http://www.brownells.com/>Brownells, http://www.laruetactical.com/>LaRue Tactical, http://www.leupold.com/>Leupold, the http://nssf.org/>National Shooting Sports Foundation and http://xssights.com/>XS Sight Systems.
But you probably want to know what happened this past weekend at the 2012 Joint Service Academy Combat Weapons Championship, right? Well here are the highlights.
This year's match featured seven challenging stages designed to test the skills of each school's combat weapons team with a pistol (125 rounds), rifle (129 rounds) and shotgun (30 rounds), as well as their ability to transition from one to the other, often on the fly.
In the individual standings, Navy finished with five shooters in the top ten, followed by Army with four, and Air Force and Coast Guard each with one shooter in the top ten.
West Point's TJ Snukis led all shooters at the 2012 JSACWC. Photo by P. Erhardt |
Army shooters claimed three individual stages wins with Snukis winning Stage 3 and Stage 6 while Gallagher won Stage 7. Navy also won three stages with Brubaker winning Stage 1, Bennett winning Stage 3 and William Spencer Malona winning Stage 5. Barton Nanny of the Coast Guard won Stage 2, as well as taking most accurate shooter honors with just 52 points down.
In team competition, where each school was represented by a squad of five shooters with a sixth "wild card"shooter whose score could be substituted for the lowest score of the main squad of five, Navy's shooters took top honors on four stages (3, 4, 5 and 6). Army's squad won two stages (1 and 7). And Coast Guard's team won Stage 2.
As you can probably guess, based on their individual performance with five shooters in the top ten, and their team performance with four stage wins, the Midshipmen won the 2012 Joint Service Academy Combat Weapons Championship with a combined score of 2977.39, edging out by a margin of 42.44 the Cadets of West Point with 3019.88.
Despite little practice time behind the rifle, Coast Guard's shooters showed no fear when it came to targets at 200 yards. Photo by P. Erhardt |
There's one more important highlight. Though not an official title or honor, "MVP" recognition goes to members of Connecticut's Air National Guard who stepped in at the last moment to provide housing for the Air Force Academy's team which, because of limited funding, would not have been able to make the trip without the assist.
Saturday evening the 70-plus members and coaches of the four combat weapons teams came together, along with visiting parents and match staff members, for the awards banquet where individual and team honors were recognized.
Thanks to help from the local Air National Guard, Air Force Academy shooters were able to compete at this year's match. Photo by P. Erhardt |
It really is a privilege - and quite a humbling experience - to be among such truly outstanding young men and women who will go on to be future leaders. If you'd like the chance to watch them in action, then mark your calendar for this same time next year when the Joint Service Academy Combat Weapons Championship will return to the Hartford Gun Club.
If your company would like be involved in next year's match, om356tsw@yahoo.com?subject=JSACWC Sponsorship Info">email Tom Yost for sponsorship opportunities and complete match information. Your participation and support will be welcome.
- Paul Erhardt, Editor, the Outdoor Wire Digital Network
Got shooting sports news? Send us an email at nfo@shootingwire.com?subject=Between The Berms">info@shootingwire.com.