Burnet County 4-H shooter strikes gold
Klein Stanley of Marble Falls with the gold medals he won at the National Junior Olympic Program competition in April in Alabama. Courtesy photo
The Burnet County 4-H Youth Precision Rifle Team once again made the national stage for excellence, this time in the National Junior Olympic Program sponsored by USA Shooting, the national sponsor for Olympic shooting sports. Ninth-grader Klein Stanley of Marble Falls took home two golds from the event held in April in Alabama.
Burnet County 4-H qualified seven athletes in total for the national contest, more than any other youth club in Texas and a record for the team. Competing alongside Klein were Adler and Weiss Stanley, Elaina Marr, Maggie Moore, and Harper and Morgan Sitra.
“Since the Texas Youth Shooting Sports in Burnet was created, it really opened the opportunities for the kids to train indoors and more often. It shows in their placing against their peers,” said shooting coach Guy Taylor in a media release announcing the national results.
The Junior Olympic season begins in late winter and around the first of the year with state-qualifying competitions. National qualifiers are selected based on these scores and their age. Athletes compete in three age groups: 19-21 years old (U21), 16-18 years old (U18), and 15 years and younger (U15). They earn national invites by reaching a specific score, which is intentionally set very high.
Klein won gold medals in his age division (U15) for air rifle and small-bore.
The air rifle contest was the most difficult. He won by only 0.6 of a point over his closest competitor: 1210.3 to 1209.8.
“It’s a game of concentration and body control where, unlike most sports, winning is not important, but concentration on perfection and the process of shooting is the priority,” coach Taylor said in the media release. “Winning is a result of what you do with perfection. When you concentrate on making a perfect shot process and not on the outcome, you produce a better shot.”
Klein took a more commanding lead in the small-bore competition, possibly due to his training outdoors at Copperhead Creek Gun Club near Marble Falls. He fired a 1103.30 to his closest competitor’s 1073.26.
The other Burnet County 4-H athletes have also impressed their coach, who looks forward to future competitions.
“A surprise this year was our younger athletes,” Taylor said. “Elaina Marr is just a seventh-grader, and Adler Stanley is just sixth-grader. Maggie Moore is only an eighth-grader. Weiss is a 12th-grader and graduating this year. He will no longer be eligible for 4-H, but Morgan and her sister Harper Sitra are 11th- and ninth-graders and have several years left. Klein Stanley is a ninth-grader and has several years left for competition.
“For us to have so many young shooters qualify at a young age is a sign that we have depth and are training them young and properly,” he continued.
Morgan and Harper Sitra attend Lake Travis High School while Weiss, Klein, and Adler Stanley, Elaina Marr, and Maggie Moore are homeschooled. Their next major match is the 4-H State Championships in Victoria on the first weekend in June.
For more information about the Burnet County 4-H Precision Rifle Team or to donate, contact the AgriLife Office at 512-756-5463 or coach Taylor at olympicrifle@icloud.com.