Lafayette rifle team drops first National Air Rifle League match of 2018

Stratford PAL Jr. Rifle Club (Stratford, Conn.) defeated Lafayette High School’s AJROTC, 1,502-1,456, in their most recently reported National Air Rifle League meeting.

Lafayette (0-1) is now in the 10th place overall and third in the JROTC Division. Alyssa Kiser led the way with a 376. The remaining contributing members were Alaina Shults (367), Christopher Franklin (360) and Troy Mussared (353).

Also shooting for Lafayette was Trystan Smith (324), Brandan Baggett (292) and Clayton Ingram (269).

Up next for the Ramblers is a match against Kenmore Varsity Rifle (Buffalo, N.Y), who is also currently 0-1.

Lafayette is competing in the Precision Champions Division of the Orion National Air Rifle League. Sponsored by the Orion Scoring System, the league is a national team league for high school teams and junior rifle clubs.

The Champions Division is the most difficult division in the conference. The league has two parts, an eight-week regular season going on now, followed by a single-elimination tournament for the top eight teams who will compete for the league championship.

In each game the teams compete in what is known as a Standing Air Rifle match. The match is nearly identical to the air rifle events in the Olympic Games.

Each athlete shoots 40 shots in the standing position, the most difficult position in rifle competitions. Each shot is worth a maximum of 10 points. The sum of points scored in the 40 shots is the athlete’s total. The team score is comprised of the best four athletes from each team.