Wildcat Valley Rifle & Pistol Club
High Power State Championship
By Dave Schnelle

The following is a brief overview of WVRPC’s first ever State Championship Match in Highpower Rifle.  The match is part of the ISRPA Championship Series, and will be included with the Atterbury 500-yard shoot as an Aggregate.

The showing was good overall, with twenty-five competitors coming from as far away as Southern Indiana, Ft. Wayne, the NE corner of Indiana, and Illinois.  There were six High Masters, six Masters, five Experts, three Sharpshooters, three Marksmen, and two Unclassified.  There were also nineteen service rifle shooters, and six match rifle shooters.  Stan Mitchell was Match Director, with Chris Moreland as Assistant Match Director, and Director of Pit Operations.  There were two volunteers to assist with Statistics, Debbie Ingersoll and Teri Gurley, which allowed scores to be tabulated as each relay finished a particular string of fire.  This significantly sped up the final tabulation of scores at the end of the match.

The weather started out slightly overcast, warm and humid, with literally no breeze.  This caused fogging problems for some shooters with their shooting glasses.  At times, the sun would come out providing a significant change in lighting conditions, followed by more overcast skies.

The match consisted of four individual matches, and one aggregate total.  Each firing line represented a match, 200-yard slow fire standing, 200-yard rapid fire sitting, 300-yard rapid fire prone, and 600-yard simulated slow fire prone.

At the end of the first match (200-yard slow fire standing), Brian Decker led all competitors with a 190-3, followed very closely by Randy Vonderheide 189-1, Dave Schnelle 189-0 and Gary Chaney 188-3.

The rapid fire stages proved troublesome for most competitors, due to the still air, heat, and high humidity.  Roger Copsey and Randy Vonderheide finished at the top of the second match (200 yard rapid fire sitting), with 197-9 and 197-8.  After two matches, only six points separated the top seven competitors.  The leader was Randy Vonderheide with a 386-9, followed very closely by Brian Decker 384-8, Dave Schnelle 383-6, Roger Copsey 381-13, Gary Chaney 381-9, Karl Ohliger 381-7, and Bob Winding 380-8.

The third match (300-yard rapid fire prone) was won by Karl Ohliger with a 199-6, followed by Brian Decker 198-7, Vic Victory 197-7, and Eric Becker 197-5.  Aggregate scores after three matches showed Brian Decker in the lead 582-15, followed closely by Randy Vonderheide 581-14, Karl Ohliger 580-13, and Dave Schnelle 579-12.  Only three points separated the top four competitors, and the top seven competitors remained within six points of each other!

The final stage of fire and the fourth match of the day is the simulated 600-yard stage, fired slow fire prone.  The target is extremely small even at 300-yards.  The X ring is only 2.85 inches across, and the 10 ring is only 5.85 inches across.  Two shots separated by less than six inches can be an X and a seven!

Roger Copsey with an outstanding 199-13 won this fourth match.  He was followed closely by Gary Chaney 199-10, Tomihiro Takase 198-9, Wayne Faatz 196-12, Dave Schnelle 196-8, and Brian Decker 196-7.  There were four more competitors with a score of 195, providing a very tight race!

The aggregate of all four individual matches resulted in only three points separating the top four competitors.  The spread over the top seven competitors had widened to thirteen points.  Top shooter for the day was Brian Decker, out shooting all others with a 778-22 out of a possible 800.  Brian is the Match Winner, High Service Rifle Shooter, Overall State Champion at 300-yards, and is also the Grand Aggregate winner of the Atterbury 500-yard match and the WVRPC 300-yard event combined.  Congratulations Brian!

Roger Copsey finished second on the day with a 776-33; Gary Chaney was third with a 775-24, and Dave Schnelle fourth with a 775-20.  Complete results can be found at http://www.wvrpc.org/highpower.htm.

SEPTEMBER 20
RMC STATE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
Match Winner-High SER &
State Champion	Brian Decker	778-22
HM-State Champion	Roger Copsey	776-33
2nd HM	Gary Chaney	775-24
MA-State Champion	Bob Winding	771-18
2nd MA	Karl Ohilger	770-17
EX- State Champion	Dave Harper	755-05
2nd EX	Eric Becker	753-16
SS-State Champion	Eric Courtright	717-06
MK-State Champion	John Kidder	738-06