Garfield County 4-H qualifies five for National Shoot Contest, one for Western Heritage event
Chelsea Self / Post Independent
The recent Garfield County 4-H state achievement award announcements included some big news for area shooting-sport athletes.
Five athletes have qualified for National Shoot Contest, set for June 25-30, 2023, in Grand Island, Nebraska.
Qualifiers include: Teagan Jacobs, compound archery; Michael Slappey, shotgun; Kellen Johnson, shotgun; Payton Neil, air rifle; and Madison Stewart, air pistol.
In addition, Kalyn Hurst-Farnham qualified for the Shooting Sports National Western Heritage Invitational, also taking place next summer.
Numerous other achievements were also announced at the state event earlier this month, including results from the state competitions at the Colorado State Fair in August.
Among them were four state champions in team shooting events, four reserve shooting champions and six third-place finishes for shooting teams.
State championships were won by the Air Rifle 3P Senior team of Madison Stewart, Peyton Neil, Trent Lewis, Keenan Rosenberg and Ella Olson.
Winning the .22 Rifle Hunt Juniors division were Marcus Erpestad, Matthias Hesser, Cole Paulson, Tyler Miernicki, Autumn Erpestad and Trey Miernicki.
Shotgun Skeet Junior winners were Ellie May, Cody Roman, Weston Niles, Cole Paulson and Tyler Miernicki.
And, the Shotgun Trap Senior team of Ruby Walker, Kaden Murr, Kellen Johnson, Brayden Niles and Michael Slappey won the state championship for that event.
Reserve champions (second place) came in Air Pistol Juniors, Shotgun Skeet Seniors, Shotgun Sporting Clays Juniors and Shotgun Trap Juniors.
And, third-place finishes came in Archery Compound Limited Juniors and Seniors, Archery Recurve Limited Juniors, Air Rifle 4P Seniors, Air Rifle Olympic Off-Hand Seniors and Shotgun Sporting Clays Seniors.
Individually, State Fair shooting championships went to Kaden Murr, Archery Compound Limited Senior; Kindall Murr, Archery Recurve Limited Junior; and Ellie May, Shotgun Skeet Junior (won in a shoot-off); and Owen Curtis, Air Pistol.
Garfield County 4-H champions and reserve champions in non-shooting events at State Fair included:
Adalyn Matis, Beekeeping reserve champion; Maddie Palomares, Hand Ceramics champion; Giada Gallegos, Gardening Sprouts reserve champion; Liliana Ruiz-Magana, Quilting Unit 3 reserve champion and Cake Decorating champion and reserve grand champion; Waylon Panter, Robotics grand champion; Ethan Villarreal, Western Heritage champion; Blayne Myers, Sportfishing Casting champion; Kameran Palmateer, Digital Photo/4-H Action first place; Emma Villarreal, Digital Photo/Plant Life, first place; and William Glynn, Rocket Fly Day reserve champion.
In the State Dog Trials, Alyssa Hamilton placed third in the Rally Advanced event, and Tabor Tiffany was third in Rally Excellent A.
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