The Wisconsin Junior Rifle Team—with divisions aptly named Wisconsin Cheddar, Wisconsin Colby and Wisconsin Mozzarella—had an exceptional year at Camp Perry this summer. They went home with multiple wins, several trophies and the knowledge that months of hard work paid off on the range.
Wisconsin teams are not new to success with a strong year in 2023, winning multiple individual and team events. But this year, there was a shift in the team that transformed their collective mindset and helped them bring home first, second and third place wins in the National Trophy Junior Team Match. The team of Thomas McGowan and Thomas Kirsten took first place, earning the Freedom’s Fire Trophy. In addition, Wisconsin’s two-person teams placed 22nd, 25th and 36th on the competition leaderboard.
Wisconsin Junior Team Head Coach, Kaleb Hall, said the team’s mindset shift from individual wins to team victories gave them an edge at Camp Perry that helped them secure many top spots.
“The kids were focused on the team this year. There was not a lot of focus on the individual,” Hall said.
Hall didn’t push the transformation. It materialized organically across the team as they practiced side by side in preparation for the matches.
“Everyone wanted to contribute to the team this year,” Hall said. “We went to a lot of team matches throughout the year. The team worked together a lot, and everyone wanted to shoot well for each other.”
In the end, the team mentality helped push each marksman to a higher skill level, resulting in multiple individual wins as well. Four of the team members earned the Col. Bill Deneke Trophy which is awarded annually to the National Junior Service Rifle Team which is comprised of the six top scoring junior shooters in an aggregate of the President’s Rifle Match, the National Trophy Individual Rifle Match and the National Trophy Junior Team Match, as well as the coach and captain of the winning National Trophy Junior Team.
The Wisconsin teammates who earned the Col. Bill Deneke Trophy were Thomas McGowan, Kacie McGowan, Anna Behnke and Thomas Kirsten. This is the first year that four members of the Wisconsin team earned the trophy.
“It’s a big honor to get on that team. We’ve never had that many on it,” Hall said. “I don’t know of any state that had that many.”
The Wisconsin team spent months preparing for summer matches at Camp Perry.
“We’ve been shooting pretty much every week since May. Most of the kids shoot all the matches, so they’re very comfortable on the range. They’ve been doing this, so they shot at competition how they shoot at home,” Hall said.
Getting his marksmen comfortable on the range is a primary goal of Hall’s coaching philosophy. With enough experience on the range, shooting in competition becomes second nature.
“Mostly what I focus on is getting kids out to the range to shoot and then focus on the problems. It’s about putting time into getting comfortable behind the rifle,” he said.
The Wisconsin team also brought home with the Minuteman Trophy, which is presented to the top junior team in the National Trophy Rifle Team match. They earned the Infantry Trophy, Leatherneck Trophy and Magnificent Seven Junior Infantry Team Trophy in the Infantry Match, defeating military teams to rise to the top.
“It did and didn’t surprise me that they beat the military teams,” Hall said. “This match is usually kind of an end-of-the-week fun match, and we don’t normally train for it.”
This summer, Hall assigned a coach the job of prepping his team for the Infantry Match.
“It almost felt easy for them because they’ve been doing it all year,” he said.
Looking ahead, Hall wants to sustain the Wisconsin team’s success by strengthening the skills of the younger members. He brought a few of them to Camp Perry this year to expose them to the competition.
“They came to Camp Perry and saw the dedication the older kids put in,” Hall said. “I want to focus on getting the younger juniors up to that level.”
Learn more about the Wisconsin Junior Rifle Team at Facebook.
Visit the CMP website at thecmp.org.
