Competitive shooter Briley Sralla and teammates set national record
Texas Hill Country team members Briley Sralla (left) of Johnson City, Elizabeth Probst, Anne White, and Braden Peiser set a national record at the Junior Olympic Nationals 3PAR tournament. Courtesy photo
Small-bore and air rifle competitive shooter Briley Sralla added to her impressive resume with the Texas Hill Country Shooters team at the Junior Olympic Nationals 3PAR event and the Civilian Marksmanship Program National 3PAR tournament July 18-19 in Anniston, Alabama.
Texas Hill Country, which is coached by Ron Haffner, set a new national record, scoring 2,363 out of a possible 2,400 points during the Junior Olympic portion of the championships. The next day, Texas Hill Country won the CMP team event and broke its own record by scoring 2,364 points out of 2,400 points.
Individual scores for the Johnson City middle schooler counted toward the team’s point total. Sralla advanced to the individual tournaments, where she finished third on the first day by scoring a 454.7 and fifth on the last day by scoring a 433.7.
Each competitor gets 60 shots that are worth 10 points each. Each tournament had eight athletes, and the scores that got them into the individuals tournaments from the team events were wiped away.
“I went in ranked eighth and moved up,” said Sralla, who was the youngest athlete to advance to the individual tournaments.
Haffner couldn’t praise her enough.
“She’s an absolutely amazing shooter, especially for how young she is,” he said. “Briley is selfless out there and allows someone else to shine. That shows her dedication to the sport and how good she really is. She’s a workhorse, she’s amazing.”
The way the team scores were compiled was unique. Haffner had to pick five athletes to represent his squad on the competition line. He then told judges which four scores should count toward the overall team score, though he didn’t tell his athletes. Those four athletes are known as counters, and they found out whose scores counted after the team events were finished.
“Our coaches take our scores each day (at practice) and use that to determine people on our team score,” Sralla said. “That’s what kept us motivated to try harder and do better.”
As for being part of a national record-breaking team, Sralla took it in stride.
“We were just trying to get on the podium,” she said. “We all came together this year.”