Oak Harbor High School Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps marksmen will add another page to their ever-fattening scrapbook when they compete at the NJROTC Service Air Rifle Championships Feb. 16-18 in Anniston, Ala.
The Wildcat precision rifle team — seniors Elena Flake, Mia Gehrmann and Austin McBride and sophomores Julia Flake and Michael White — earned the berth by recording the top NJROTC score in the Northwest and the fifth best in the country in a postal match in November.
The service championship will determine which team represents the Navy in the JROTC National Championships in March.
Oak Harbor has dominated JROTC shooting competition in the Puget Sound area for decades.
Since coach Dave Goodman came aboard seven years ago, the Wildcats and S-Cubed, a civilian team that includes many of the same students, ascended to even higher levels, pushing their way among regional and national leaders.
’Cats add precision team
Goodman also introduced his athletes to precision competition.
Most high school programs use sporter rifles. The heavier and more advanced precision rifle is used in international competition.
Oak Harbor now fields teams in both divisions.
Among the many awards gathered by the Oak Harbor sharpshooters is a national sporter title won by S-Cubed with a record score at the 2015 Civilian Marksmanship Program Championships.
S-Cubed followed that up with a club division championship (13th overall) at the 2015 National Junior Olympic Tournament.
Last year in the regional CMP championships, the S-Cubed sporter team was first in the club division and fourth overall and the OHHS NJROTC precision team took 10th.
S-Cubed has also won four consecutive sporter state championships and, based upon its score for this year, is in line for a fifth. The final scores will be posted Feb. 12 when the Eastern Washington scores are included.
“Historically, our sporter team has beaten the teams shooting in Spokane every time we have competed with them — four years in a row. I expect that will be the case again this year judging by the score we posted,” Goodman said.
Individuals earn awards
The Oak Harbor teams have also produced outstanding individual results.
Among the athletes still competing, McBride finished seventh in the individual standings when S-Cubed claimed its national title in 2015.
He qualified for last year’s National Junior Olympic Men’s Rifle Championship and placed 68th out of 187.
Elena Flake won gold and bronze medals in her classification in the National Rifle and Pistol Championships last June. She accomplished this by practicing only two months with a precision rifle and competing in only one other event.
Senior Steven Richards posted the best sporter score in Western Washington in the recently completed Junior Olympic Air Rifle Championship, which S-Cubed won. Jason Montano took third, Lauren Crossley fifth and Ryan Quiros seventh.
Elena Flake was third in the precision class.
Athletes seek greatness
Goodman said the success of the program comes from everyone’s wish to be great at something.
“The reality is most people have dreams of being great but do not believe they can be, so they never put it all on the line and go for it,” he said. “What the shooting team does is give our athletes the vision that they truly can be great at something and then show them one path to that greatness. They do the rest.”
Goodman is assisted in providing that path by coaches Ian Gehrmann and Lance Flake and “team mom” Wendy Flake.
“Both the Flakes and Ian have been invaluable to the team this year,” Goodman said.
The Wildcats are off to Alabama and “are in it to win it,” Elena Flake said.
Wildcats improving
Oak Harbor holds the fifth-best score going into the competition but has the greatest upside because of its newness to precision, according to McBride.
Most of the top teams in the country have been shooting precision rifles for years, but Oak Harbor is just a “baby team,” he said. Therefore, the Wildcat shooters will improve at a more rapid rate, he added.
The team’s dedication, according to team captain Mia Gehrmann, will give it a shot at winning the title.
“All of us come here early (before school) on our own,” she said. “We have the willingness to strive for success.”
White echoed those remarks: “Dedication is important; you have got to want it and work for it.”
The program’s past success will also help, according to McBride.
“The more competitions that we win, the better our confidence in our shooting,” he said. “It creates a big, long chain of being better than everyone else. The mentality of wanting to be the best will help you be the best.”
Focus is another key, according to Julia Flake.
“You have to know where you want to go,” she said, “and your attitude and level of dedication will get you there.”
The next “there” is the national NJROTC crown.
Captain Mia Gehrmann said her team’s willness to work will lead to its success at the national NJROTC championships. (Photo by Jim Waller/Whidbey News-Times)
