Tarl Kempley of Carson City, NV, shot his way through rain, lightning storms and high wins during 3-Position Small-bore competition at Camp Perry in late July to take home his first National Championship.
Smallbore 1-Position Champion Tarl
Kempley. (NRA photo)
Kempley is not a newcomer to the National Championships cosponsored by the National Rifle Association and the Civilian Marksmanship Program in cooperation with the Ohio National Guard. He and his sister, Reya, who placed second behind winner Capt.
Christopher Abalo, US Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU, in the National Prone Small-bore competition, are third generation rifle competitors, and they have won national junior and collegiate titles before.
Tarl Kempley’s consistency in the Metallic Sight and Any Sight 1,200s led him to the gold medal stand with a total 2295-108x score. His 1103-1 was second overall in the Any Sight phase and he did well enough in Metallic Sight events to win him the overall title and High Civilian honors in the 3- Position competition.
Kirsten Weiss of Cornwall, PA, was second in the 3-Position competition as well as High Woman with a score of 2287-96x. In third place overall as well as High Junior and High Collegiate Champion was Amanda Luoma of Cortland, OH, with an aggregate score of 2281-92x.
Abalo won the Service Championship in the 3-Position competition with a 2276-100x score before going on to take the Prone Small-bore Championship a few days later.
Other special award winners among the 282 competitors in the 3-Position matches were: Harold Rocketto, Westerly, RI, whose 2194-72X earned him the Senior Championship; William Burkert of Fleetwood, PA, who was Intermediate Senior Champion with a 2213-76x; Benjamin Swanson of Jamestown, NY, was Intermediate Junior Champion shooting a 2276-87x, and Samantha Peterson or Ham Lake, MN, whose 2178-74x earned her the Sub-Junior Championship. Joel Dutra of Grampion, PA, was the Any Sight Only Champion with a score of 2204-57x.
In the Prone Small-bore Competition, Abalo took first place in the Metallic Sight Only phase with a 2393-159x score and third place in the Any Sight phase with a 2399-193X, amassing an aggregate score of 4792-352x for both the overall Prone Small-bore title as well as the Service championship.
Abalo was stalked by Reya Kempley , who trailed the USAMU shooter by just three points in the Metallic Sight phase to finish in second, posting a 2300- 164x, and edging him by one point in the Any Sight phase with a 2400-199x in the Metallic Sight phase of the Prone competition. She also won the High Woman and High Civilian honors.
Third place was captured by veteran shooter and former champion Michael Anti, now of Colorado Springs, CO, who shot a total combined score for both Any Sight and Metallic Sight prone competition with an aggregate of 4787-350x.
Special award winners in the Small-bore Prone combined competition were: Senior Champion—Joe Farmer, Howard, CO, 4780-338x; Intermediate Senior Champion—Steven Kern, West Bloomfield, MI, 4779-329x; Collegiate Champion—Mathew Chezem, Simi Valley, CA, 4776-334x; Junior Champion— Garrett Spurgeon, Canton, MO, 4782-334x; Intermediate Junior— Benjamin Swanson, Jamestown, NY, 4783-344x, and Sub-Junior Champion— Peter Fiori, Lebanon, NJ, 4710-220x.
The Any Sight Only champion in the prone events was Paul Norquist of Alexandria, VA, who fired a 4758-297x.
