Six members of Team Shooting Stars traveled to the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado to compete in the 2012 National Junior Olympic Shooting Championships (“NJOSC”).

Gallegos Wins Gold in Women’s 10m Air Pistol

Taylor Gallegos Wins Gold In Women's 10m Air Pistol at the 2012 USA Shooting National Junior Olympic Championships

Taylor Gallegos (Prosper, Texas) is the new national junior olympic champion in Women’s 10m Air Pistol, retaining her spot on the US National Junior Team. Taylor finished the first day of shooting with a 368 and a 4-point lead over her next closest competitor and extended that lead to 6-points after the second day, shooting a 364, putting her in the finals in 1st place. She shot a 94.9 in the finals, securing her victory and placing her atop the podium for her first junior national championship. Congratulations Taylor!

Gallegos Wins Silver in Women’s 25m Sport Pistol

Taylor continued her strong performance into Women’s 25m Sport Pistol, shooting a 263 in the precision stage and a 282 in the rapid fire stage for an overall total of 545, putting her into finals in second place. She shot a 187.9 in finals, holding on for silver.

Strong Performances By Entire Team

Matt Settele shooting Men's 10m Air Rifle at the 2012 USA Shooting National Junior Olympic Championships

Matt Settele (Plano, Texas) shot a personal best in Men’s 10m Air Rifle, with a 577 on the first day and a 582 on the second day, finishing in 17th place out of 101 shooters. Matt’s disciplined training regimen leading up to NJOSC paid off as he saw his performance improve steadily in the months leading up to the competition. His hard work and preparation helped carry him to his strongest finish in a major competition to-date. Great work Matt!

In Women’s 10m Air Pistol, Devin Gallegos (Prosper, Texas) shot a 344 the first day and 357 the second day, finishing with a total score of 701 and a 13th place finish overall out of 46 shooters. She was also 7th among the J1 age group out of 19 shooters.

In Men’s 10m Air Pistol, Thomas Alm (Flower Mound, Texas) shot a personal best in a big match with a 523 on the first day and 518 on the second day for an overall total of 1041.

Also in Men’s 10m Air Pistol, Ryan Davis (Plano, Texas) shot a 510 on the first day and a 518 on the second day for an overall score of 1028.

In Women’s 10m Air Rifle, Mindy Miles (Weathorford, Texas) shot a 381 on the first day and 375 on the second day for an overall score of 756.

Congratulations to all team members on their performances and hard work and thanks to all the parents and volunteers who helped with training, travel and support of these juniors leading up to the competition!

Photo Slideshow

Related Articles

• USA Shooting National Junior Olympic Program
• 2012 USA Shooting NJOSC Final Results
• 2012 USA Shooting NJOSC Articles

Read the original article: Team Shooting Stars Find Success at 2012 National Junior Olympics Championships

Our team is raising funds to fix the broken air conditioner for our airgun range.

The cost is estimated at $1700 for the repairs.

We’ve raised some money already but are still well short.

The temperatures in the range will soon climb to near 100 degrees and make it more difficult to train effectively.

We’ll keep you posted on our progress towards our goal.

To help us out, you can make a tax-deductible donation using one of the two options below:

Option 1 – Donate Online

To make a secure online donation through PayPal, simply click the “Donate” button below and follow the instructions on the PayPal site to complete the transaction.

Option 2 – Mail Check

You can also mail a check payable to “Team Shooting Stars” to this address:

We will provide a receipt reflecting your charitable contribution for your tax records.

Thank you very much for your consideration!

Thanks also to everyone who has donated so far! Your help is tremendously appreciated.

Read the original article: Team Seeking Donations For Air Conditioner Repairs

Taylor Gallegos

The many months spent renovating our new range paid off yet again with our hosting the first of many airgun matches at our new range on March 31st.

14 shooters competed in the 4 airgun events.

In Men’s 10m Air Pistol, Nathaniel Molder led with a score of 531 followed closely by Thomas Alm with a 530. Jackson Miles rounded out the top 3 with a score of 524.

In Women’s 10m Air Pistol, Taylor Gallegos took 1st with a score of 363, with Kathy Varadi finishing with a 349 for second place from her 1st relay score and a 346 from her 2nd relay score.

Matt Settele

In Men’s 10m Air Rifle, Matt Settele shot a fantastic score of 574 to lead the field with Joseph Molder taking 2nd with a 531 and Marcus Casey taking 3rd with a 526.

In Women’s 10m Air Rifle, Mindy Miles shot an excellent score of 385 to finish 1st followed by Ariel Hall in 2nd with a 322.

Congratulations to all the shooters on their performances and thanks to all the volunteers helping run the match.

See you all again on Saturday, May 19th for our next match!

Related Articles

• Shooting Stars PTO – March 31, 2012 – Final Results

Read the original article: Shooting Stars Host First PTO At New Airgun Range

Team members Matt Settele (Plano, Texas), Mindy Miles (Weatherford, Texas), Nathaniel Molder (Santo, Texas) and Joseph Molder (Santo, Texas) all competed at this years Texas State Junior Olympic Rifle Championship held the weekend of January 14-15 at the TCU rifle range in Fort Worth.

Mindy Miles

Matt Settele

Overcoming the anxiety of the difficult start, Matt rose to the occasion and shot his entire match in 1 hour, 45 minutes. Not only did he win the overall bronze medal but he shot his personal best! He also shot a personal best in 10m Air Rifle and missed overall bronze by only one point, finishing 1st in the J1 class. We’re extremely proud of Matt and how well he executed his mental game to overcome the challenging start to have a great performance! Way to go Matt!

Nathaniel Molder (Santo, Texas) finished in 1st in the J1 class in the 3-Position Smallbore rifle event with a score of 542, and 7th in the J1 class for 10m Air Rifle with a score of 542. His brother Joseph Molder (Santo, Texas) finished in 5th in the J2 class in the 3-Position event with a score of 499 and 18th in the J2 class of 10m Air Rifle with a score of 507.

Congratulations to all the shooters on their performances!

Related Articles

• 2012 Texas Junior Olympic Rifle Championship — Final Results

Read the original article: Shooting Stars Excel at 2012 Texas JORC

Kathy Varadi, Thomas Alm, Taylor Gallegos, Coach Dave Schaller, and Sean Brocklehurst

Team Shooting Stars were proud to host the 2012 Texas Junior Olympic Pistol Championships the weekend of January 14th and 15th.

In Men’s 10m Air Pistol, Nathaniel Molder was the champion with a score of 535. Thomas Alm (Flower Mound, Texas) finished with the silver with a score of 510 and Ryan Davis (Plano, Texas) took the bronze with a score of 488.

In Women’s 10m Air Pistol, Taylor Gallegos (Prosper, Texas) was the champion with a score of 372. Devin Gallegos won the silver with a score of 338.

In Men’s 25m Junior Sport Pistol, Sean Brocklehurst was the champion with a score of 487 and Thomas Alm took the silver with a score of 478.

In Women’s 25m Junior Sport Pistol, Taylor Gallegos was the champion with a score of 545.

We’re very proud of all our shooters who participated and congratulate each of them on their performances.

Special thanks also to our coach Dave Schaller, club President Christine Alm, and all the volunteers who helped run the match!

Read the original article: Shooting Stars Host 2012 Texas JOPC

Team Shooting Stars (and friends) at the US Olympic Team Trials for Airgun, Part 1

In Men’s 10m Air Rifle, Matt Settle (Plano, Texas) finished with a score of 557-25x on the first day of competition and a 551-16x on the second day, for a combined score of 1108-41x.

In Women’s 10m Air Rifle, Mindy Miles (Weatherford, Texas) scored a 382-20x on the first day and a 384-17x on the second day, for a combined total of 766-37x.

Kathy Varadi competing at the US Olympic Team Trials for Airgun, Part 1

In Men’s 10m Air Pistol, Jack DuToit (Plano, Texas) shot a 564-12x on day 1 and a 564-15x on day 2, for an 1128-27x combined score, for a 16th place finish overall. Jack Milchanowski (Sunset, Texas) shot a 554-10x on the first day and a 545-9x on the second day, for a final score of 1099-19x. Thomas Alm (Flower Mound, Texas) shot a 516-4x on day 1 and a 510-2x on day 2 for a total of 1026-6x.

Part 2 of the US Olympic Team Trials for Airgun take place in early February at Camp Perry, Ohio.

We’re very proud of all our shooters who participated and congratulate each of them on their performances.

Complete results for all Shooting Stars team members

10m Air Pistol Men

• 16th place, Jack DuToit (1128-27x)
• 35th place, Jack Milchanowski (1099-19x)
• 63rd Place, Thomas Alm (1026-6x)

10m Air Pistol Women

• 14th place, Kathy Varadi (719-12x)
• 19th place, Taylor Gallegos (699-9x)
• 20th place, Devin Gallegos (694-7x)
• 25th place, Sally Zimmerman (682-1x)

10m Air Rifle Men

• 53rd place, Matt Settele (1108-41x)

10m Air Rifle Women

• 36th place, Mindy Miles (766-37x)

Read the original article: Shooting Stars Compete In US Olympic Trials for Airgun, Part 1

Team Shooting Stars was proud to host two members of the elite US Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) for a shooting clinic in early November.

Spc. Greg Markowski and Spc. Tyler Imig took team members through a 2-day clinic that focused on several key areas of the shooting discipline, including fundamentals, hold, stance, trigger control, warm ups and physical training. They also guided team members through a number of challenging drills around the unexpected things that might occur during a match, and techniques for handling them.

They worked with shooters individually to address trouble spots and questions each shooter had.

Team members learned a great deal from Greg and Tyler about the value of physical training in general and of the key muscles involved in the shooting process.

The entire weekend was a fantastic experience for both junior and adult shooters and we’d like to extend a very special thank you to Greg and Tyler and the US Army Marksmanship Unit for their time and sharing their experience with our team.

Best of luck to all USAMU shooters at the upcoming US Olympic Trials!

Read the original article: Shooting Stars Host USAMU Clinic

Team members Jack DuToit, Will Whitten, and Matt Cole completed in the 2011 Fall Invitational match hosted by the Texas A&M pistol team at their home range in College Station, Texas over the weekend of November 5th.

In Free Pistol, Jack DuToit was the overall winner with a score of 515. Matt Cole finished in 2nd with a score of 513 and Will Whitten placed 4th with a 496.

In Air Pistol, Jack DuToit was again the overall winner with a score of 557. Will and Matt didn’t compete in the air pistol event.

Thanks to the Texas A&M pistol team for hosting us and we look forward to competing again at the sectionals in February!

Download complete results from the match

Read the original article: Shooting Stars Compete in 2011 Texas A&M Fall Invitational

Nine Shooting Stars team members competed in this years TCU Horned Frog Invitational, held in Fort Worth at Texas Christian University and hosted by the TCU Rifle Team.

The match is composed if high school and collegiate shooters shooting in the Air Pistol, Air Rifle, and 3-Position Smallbore Rifle events.

Competing in the High School division in Air Pistol, Nathaniel Molder shot a 515, Ryan Davis finished with a 512, and Thomas Alm shot a 459.

In the Collegiate division in Air Pistol, Jack DuToit shot a 560 and Devin Gallegos finished with a 512.

In the Collegiate division of Air Rifle, Matt Settele finished with a 547 and Devin Gallegos shot a 559.  Matt also shot a 523 in 3-Position Smallbore Rifle.

In the High School division for Air Rifle, Nathaniel Molder shot a 564, Mindy Miles shot a 561, and Joseph Molder shot a 517.

In the High School division for 3-Position Smallbore Rifle, Nathaniel Molder shot a 554, Mindy Miles shot a 529, and Joseph Molder shot a 481.

Congratulations to all the shooters who competed!

Download the complete results

Read the original article: Shooting Stars Complete in 2011 TCU Horned Frog Invitational

Kathy Varadi at 2011 USA Shooting Champion of Champions Match

Shooting Stars Kathy Varadi and Jack Milchanowski both competed at this years’ Champion of Champions matches in Fort Benning, Georgia.

In Women’s 10m Air Pistol, Kathy shot a 357 on her first day but returned strong on her second day with a solid 368.  She competed in the finals as well, shooting a 98.0 and finishing in 6th place with an overall score of 823.0.  Sandra Uptagrafft was the overall champion with a score of 867.7.  Teresa Meyer finished in second with a 867.2, almost catching Sandra in the finals with a very good 101.2 finals score.  Lea Wachowich finished in 3rd with an overall score of 856.2.

In Women’s 25m Sport Pistol, Kathy shot a 271 precision and 230 rapid fire on day 1, finishing with a 502.  On the second day, Kathy shot a 266 in precision and a 256 in rapid fire, giving her an overall score of 522 for the day.  She competed in finals as well and shot a 169.3 giving her an overall grand total of 1192.3 for both days which put her in 9th position overall.  Sandra Uptagrafft won Sport Pistol as well with an overall score of 1359.5.  Teresa Meyer finished in 2nd with a score of 1334.0.   Libby Callahan took 3rd with an overall score of 1326.9.

In Men’s 50m Free Pistol, Jack Milchanowski shot a 475 on day 1 and improved with a 502 on the second day, giving him a combined score of 977 for both days.  Nick Mowrer won the event with an overall score of 1205.6.  Greg Markowski took 2nd with a score of 1201.0.  Anthony Lutz finished in 3rd with a score of 1190.1.

In Men’s 10m Air Pistol, Jack shot a 550 on both days for an overall score of 1100.  Will Brown won with an overall score of 1255.2.  Greg Markowski took 2nd with a score of 1246.8.  John Zurek finished in 3rd with an overall score of 1246.2.

Jack Milchanowski at 2011 USA Shooting Champion of Champions Match

Jack was also kind enough to share his journal from the match, which is posted below.

“I drove to Ft Benning leaving home on Thursday, Sep 22.  I always take my photo gear and search for interesting compositions during my travel.  I was able to find Canadian Geese in Meridian, MS and flocks of Great Egrets in catfish ponds in AL.  I also shot some interesting images of different bridges.  All of this helps my stock photography business (Jack Milchanowski Photography) and ensures my trip and expenses are deductable when filing my taxes.

My first matches were with Free Pistol competition.  There were only 15 of us competing.  I shot exactly what I have shot in my past three FP matches during the first match.  Greg Markowski shot a 557 for his first match with Nick Mowrer in 2^nd with a 554.  The second day I shot 27 points higher than my first day and finally, after two and one half years broke 500 with a 502.  I have been shooting 500 in practice and was very pleased to finally shoot at least what I have been practicing at. Nick finished in first with Greg in second.  Anthony Lutz was in third.

The next two days were AP.  We jumped from 15 competitors to 18!  Each day was memorable.  Will Brown shot a 585 on day one.  Young Alex Chickov shot a 575 on day two.  Greg Markowski shot a consistent 574 each day.  I was pleased with my shooting both days.  My shots on the second day felt more comfortable yet I duplicated my score of 550 each day with the same amount of inner 10s each day.  My 550 is at the lower end of my practice match scores; yet I have finally broken through the mental problem of shooting way below my training scores.  It has been frustrating for two and a half years to shoot so much lower than in training.  I taught so many archers the mental skills to not let this happen and I could not make the transfer to my brain.  I was quite pleased with all four matches.  It was a great learning opportunity.

It is always nice to shoot with many friends.   John Zurek and all the shooters from the AMU are always friendly and sociable.  Jim Sandall is from Canada.  I have been through training two different times at the AMU with him in our group.  It was great to see him once again.  Scott Beyer is a carpenter who has just started shooting AP in the past year.  He is an excellent Bullseye shooter.  Scott practices after midnight or at five in the morning due to family/work constraints.  Scott, Paul Messina, Anthony Cross, and I used to have the same coach who coaches via the internet.  It is always fun to shoot with this group.  Mike Coscia is a Dr. from Indiana.  We seem to always chat for hours after matches.  Everyone knows, not surprisingly, his daughter who also shoots.  I was able to put a face together with a Target Talk shooter named Brian McCoy.  During our second day of AP it rained like crazy!  Those of us from Texas wondered at first what the noise was.  We had not heard it in such a long time.  It was coming down very hard and was very loud even with ear plugs in.

Come see us in the woods.” — Jack Milchanowski

Thanks Jack!  Congratulations to both Jack and Kathy and all the shooters who competed at this years’ match.

Related Articles

• Press release regarding 2011 USA Shooting Champion of Champions match results from USA Shooting website
• Complete 2011 USA Shooting Champion of Champions match results from USA Shooting website

Read the original article: Shooting Stars Compete at 2011 Champion of Champions Match