Chugiak’s NJROTC riflery team qualifies for national championships
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February 24, 2010 • Meg Mielke, Editor
Filed under 2009-2010
The Chugiak NJROTC riflery team–consisting of team captain and junior Matthew Martin, senior Jimmy “Iceman” Zaken, senior James “Lil One” Klepzig and junior Alan Mulcahy–just returned from the Secretary of the Navy Three Position Air Rifle Shoulder-to-Shoulder Championship in Camp Perry Ohio. While in Ohio, the team earned an aggregate score of 4579 out of 4800, placing them fourth in the championships. This gives the team the honor of going to the All Service JROTC National Air Rifle Championship to be held in Anniston, Alabama March 25 through the 27.
Before going to Camp Perry, the team had to qualify for the Navy portion of the championships. With an aggregate score of 1146 out of 1200, the Chugiak rifle team earned first place in Area 13, which consists of the Northwest Region of the United States.
In order to get fourth place overall, the team needed some impressive individual performances. Martin fired an amazing 593 out of 600, breaking the All Navy JROTC record of 589. Martin then went on to receive an overall 1175 points. This performance earned him 2nd overall in a field of 52 competitors.
Zaken was the team’s second highest performer with 1152 points, earning him 9th place overall. Klepzig scored 1143 points, and Mulcahy scored 1109 points placing them in 17th place and 40th place respectively.
MSgt William “TOP” Dill, the head coach for the Chugiak NJROTC rifle team for 18 years, has many to thank for making this trip possible, including Marcy Gentemmann, Chugiak’s varsity rifle coach who allowed the NJROTC rifle team to fire their entire postal season in conjunction with the rifle team’s regular practices. Great appreciation also goes out for the resources and training expertise provided by Bill Martin, as well as the Borealis Bulls Eye Rifle Club located in Anchorage. As far as the task of coordinating the trip, a big thanks goes out to activities principal Julye Neele, who assisted in the coordination of this trip.
