Two Hunterdon County youths won medals as a record 553 4-H youngsters representing 34 states participated in the National 4-H Shooting Sports Invitational from June 23-29 in Grand Island, Nebraska.
An estimated 1,600 participants, coaches, parents, family members and 4-H faculty and volunteers attended.
State teams and individual 4-H youth competed throughout the week in shotgun, air rifle, air pistol, smallbore rifle, smallbore pistol, compound archery, recurve archery, muzzleloading rifle, hunting skills, wildlife identification/management and decision making.
New Jersey’s 4-H Shooting Sports Advisory Council sent three teams and two individuals to the national invitational.
The air rifle team consisted of Casey Bolanowski, of Flemington, Chelsey Fitton, of Woodstown, Erich Neise, of Ringoes, Keegan Sahlin, of Whitehouse, and coach Bill Sahlin.
Shotgun team members were Jake Peterson, of Flemington, Jesse Szwed, of Flemington, Nathaniel Tettemer, of Lambertville, and coach Jay Ottinger, of Hopewell.
The muzzleloader team consisted of Harlee Peterson, of Flemington, Anthony Razzano, of Sergeantsville, Connor Rittley, of Pennington, and team coach Matt Peterson. Trevor Wene, of Flemington, and coach Ken Wene entered the smallbore rifle competition, and Wyatt Bohmann, of Lafayette, and coach Peggy Bohmann were in the compound archery event.
High awards were presented to Harlee Peterson, who won a silver medal in muzzleloading at 50 yards; Anthony Razzano, who won a gold medal winner in muzzleloading novelty targets; and Chelsey Fitton, fourth placer in air rifle silhouettes and sixth place overall.
New Jersey’s Air Rifle Team was recognized in fifth place in silhouette match.
There are active 4-H shooting sports programs in 46 states with more than 300,000 youth participating under the direction of several thousand trained volunteers. Like all 4-H programs, shooting sports is a partnership among the land-grant institutions, federal, state and local governments and business and industry.
The focus of all 4-H programs is the development of youth as individuals and as responsible and productive citizens. The shooting sports program stands out as an example. Youth learn marksmanship, the safe and responsible use of firearms and archery, and the principles and ethics of hunting.
For information about shooting sports programs, visit www.4-hshootingsports.org. To see event results and photos, visit 4h.unl.edu/ntlshootingsportsinvitational.
