HARRISBURG — The Penns Valley Shooting Team took home its 16th Pennsylvania State BB Gun Championship in the Pennsylvania Championship Meet hosted by the Harrisburg Shooting Team on Saturday, April 5.
The PV “A” Team finished first in the match that consisted of a 100-point written test and a shooting match with 100 points possible from four positions: prone, standing, sitting and kneeling. Each shooter received a score out of a possible 500 points.
The PV team took honors in the shooting segments of the match and also earned the highest cumulative score on the educational test.
The win qualified the team for the National Championship, which will be held in Rogers, Arkansas on Monday, June 30 through Thursday, July 3.
The top three teams from every state qualify for the National event and this year, there will be 65 teams representing every state in the country.
The Penns Valley Shooting Team members are Jeramiah Shaffer from Bellefonte, Owen Hile from Spring Mills, Andrew Royer from Spring Mills, Nate Watson from Bellefonte and Hunter Leigey from Centre Hall. Alternates were Tessa Pringle from Pleasant Gap and Gabby Morgan from Rebersburg.
According to head coach John Wert, “The Penns Valley Shooting Team was founded in 1988 to promote gun safety, gun knowledge and the youth sport of competition BB gun shooting in the central Pennsylvania area.”
“Open to all area youth, the team does not charge a registration fee to any of its members. Competitions are held several times throughout the state of Pennsylvania each year, culminating with the annual State Championship Match.”
The team members’ families run weekly Turkey Shoots along with gun raffles throughout the year to help with covering the costs of educational material, guns, practice targets, BBs and competition fees.
The PV team will be leaving this week for Arkansas, looking to add another National Championship to the three that they already own.
