From July 15^th – 19^th, the 2011 NRA Metric National Smallbore Championships were again held in Bristol. This second annual match was hosted by the St. Joseph Valley Rifle and Pistol Association's Wa-Ke'-De range. The three position competition occurred over two days from July 16^th to 17^th followed by the prone event on the 18^th and 19^th.

ISRPA competitors at the Metric Nationals from (L-R), Bill Beard, Sarah Beard, Rick Arnold, Sarah Nakata, and Nehemiah Gillman.

To promote and support this national event, the ISRPA sent two teams to compete in the three position match. The first team (CIV 1) consisted of Sarah Beard and Nehemiah Gillman, each of whom already has collegiate smallbore notoriety at Texas Christian University and Murray State University, respectively. Sarah Nakata competed along with Bill Beard, in the second ISRPA team (CIV 2).

Bill Beard competes as an Intermediate Senior and is well known among the smallbore community and served as a mentor to Sarah, who is a rapidly rising junior talent.

Thanks to the ISRPA, there were a few more competitors in this year's position match. The competition was tougher than last year as the CIV 1 team of Gillman and Beard placed forth out of the six, while the CIV 2 team of Nakata and Beard placed fifth.

Individual achievements in the Any Sight segment of the position match were accomplished by the ISRPA representatives. Bill Beard won first place in the prone stage with a score of 399-30x. This performance was key to his achieving top shooter in the Intermediate Senior Class. Nehemiah Gillman achieved third place in the any sight standing stage with a score of 367-8x and was ultimately awarded top shooter in the Collegiate Class. In her first appearance in national competition, Intermediate Junior, Sarah Nakata, took a very respectable 8^th place in the any sight, prone stage, scoring 393-24x. Another junior in attendance, was Rick Arnold, who participated in his first national competition and is a smallbore talent that is worthy of mention.

The two days of position shooting were followed by two days of prone competition. Although the ISRPA did not sponsor teams for the prone match, the Beards and Sarah Nakata continued on as individuals in the field of 33 competitors. Bill Beard took second place in the prone championship. Sarah Beard was high score for women competitors and Sarah Nakata was second among the junior competitors. The Father/daughter duo known as "Beard and the Beardlet" teamed up to win the overall prone team championship with an aggregate score of 4701-253x, which is the combination of the metallic and any sight matches.

The NRA Metric Nationals is a great match and hopefully it will be held here in Indiana for many years to come at the excellent facilities of the Wa-Ke'-De range. In fact, the Beards, Sarah Nakata and Rick Arnold had so much fun, they went on to compete in the NRA Smallbore Nationals at Camp Perry, which followed a day later on July 21^st.