CAMP PERRY, Ohio – August 2022– The U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) proved again why they are one of today’s premier service units in the competitive shooting world. At the 2022 National Trophy Rifle Matches, held at Camp Perry and supported jointly by the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) and the Ohio National Guard, two members of the USAMU logged new national record scores, while others captured overall individual and team wins along the way.
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Leading the National Trophy Individual (NTI) Match and firing a new national record score was SSG Jarrod Mcgaffic, 32, of the USAMU. Mcgaffic fired a perfect score of 500-24X – cleaning each stage of the four-stage event and besting the previous record by one point, set by the teammate SFC Brandon Green in 2017. He also earned the record score for the United States Army Trophy – awarded to the high Army competitor.
“I came looking to not only win, but to perform at my best,” Mcgaffic said. “It’s something I try to engrave in myself – being able to execute those perfect shots every single time, so that was really my focus going into the week, as a whole.”
Growing up, Mcgaffic was a backwoods hunter, which was his only experience in marksmanship. He enlisted in the Army in 2009 and, incidentally, worked security detail for the National Matches – his first taste of the annual event.
“I didn’t think much of it, at the time,” he said.
A native of West Milton, Ohio, he joined the state’s National Guard from 2010 to 2016 before aiding the USAMU as a gunsmith. Two years later, in 2018, he was given the opportunity to shoot and became a member of the service rifle team.
A talented competitor, he earned a Distinguished Marksmanship Badge and his President’s Hundred tab (as one of the top 100 competitors in the National Matches President’s Rifle Match) in his first year. He has also been successful in Palma and Long Range competition as part of both individual and team wins in the disciplines.
“It was a dream I never thought I wanted, is the best way to put it,” he said, humbly, of his career with the USAMU. “I fell into it and took to it. And, obviously, I have a great group of people I’m shooting along with. They’re able to push me beyond limits I didn’t know were possible.”
Another USAMU teammate, SFC Erin O’Neill, 34, etched a national record score of her own in the NTI event – firing 497-22X for fourth overall and the high all-time score for the accompanying Women’s Rifle Trophy as the top female competitor.
Also earning not one, but two national records in the NTI was Justin Utley, 37, of Mineola, Texas, who collected the Police Rifle Trophy and the Nathan Hale Trophy as the highest scoring law enforcement and civilian, respectively, with a score of 499-26X. With his outstanding score, Utley finished second overall in the match.
Amber Kingshill, 19, of Vallejo, California, was the high junior of the match, with a score of 488-21X – 34th place out of 789 competitors.
SSG Amanda Elsenboss, 33, from the Pennsylvania National Guard, made impressive marks as well at the 2022 National Matches by becoming the first female ever to win the President’s Rifle Match (which began in 1894). She was presented the President’s Rifle Trophy by Gary Anderson, who has won the event more times than anyone else in history, as well as Pennsylvania National Guard Deputy Adjutant General BG Laura McHugh, who traveled all the way to Camp Perry just to personally present the honor to Elsenboss.
Naturally, SSG Elsenboss also garnered the high woman title of the match, as Benjamin Holliger, 15, of Carlock, Illinois, earned high junior.
Elsenboss went on to pair up with USAMU’s SGT Kade Jackovich for second behind SFC Green and SSG Ben Cleland in the Hearst Doubles Match. Green and Cleland tallied a score of 589-22X in the win, as Cleland was the high individual with his score of 297-11X.
The USAMU continued their streak as they fired in the National Trophy Team (NTT) Match and secured an overall score of 2960-128X. Firing members of USMAU Greenwood were SSG Ben Cleland, SSG David Bahten, SFC Erin O’Neill, SFC Brandon Green, SSG Jarrod Mcgaffic and SGT Shane Butler.
Cleland collected several other awards throughout the National Matches, including the Rattlesnake Trophy as the high Army member and the Pershing Trophy as the highest overall scoring individual of the NTT with 498-32X. He also claimed aggregate honors – including the Mountain Man Trophy as high competitor of the President’s NTI and NTT aggregate with a score of 1288-71X.
Justin Utley returned to stockpile his own aggregate awards, such as the high civilian Pietroforte Trophy for the NTI and NTT, with a score of 992-46X, and the Alice Bull Trophy for highest aggregate in President’s and NTI, with 798-35X.
High civilian team of the NTT and finishing fourth overall was Illinois State Gold (Konrad Powers, Liam McKenna, Justin Patton-Rynders, James Vaughn, Mark Aussieker and Tim Klauer). The team fired an aggregate score of 2931-98X in the match.
High junior team of the NTT was Wisconsin Cheddar. Members Thomas McGowan, Anna Behnke, James Lee, Thomas Kirsten, Andrew Behnke and Kacie McGowan accrued a score of 2921-92X – reaching seventh overall.
Wisconsin Cheddar athletes Thomas McGowan and Anna Behnke also nabbed a win in the National Trophy Junior Team Match with a score of 975-41X. Additionally, Behnke was the highest scoring individual of the match, with 490-20X.
In the National Trophy Infantry Team (NTIT) Match, otherwise known as the “Rattle Battle” for its distinct sound as it fires, USAMU Greenwood stowed another win with a score of 1344. Bahten, Butler, Cleland and Green added SSG Verne Conant and SFC Daniel Crody to the crew to overtake the top spot in the event.
Texas State Rifle Association earned the high civilian title (with a second place finish), as the California Grizzlies Team Taylor claimed the high junior honor (taking fourth overall).
Find a complete list of results of the 2022 National Trophy Rifle Matches at https://ct.thecmp.org/22nmrifleresults. Photos of these matches and more may be viewed and downloaded for free at https://cmp1.zenfolio.com/f194425065.
— By Ashley Dugan, CMP Staff Writer
The Civilian Marksmanship Program is a federally chartered 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation. It is dedicated to firearm safety and marksmanship training and to the promotion of marksmanship competition for citizens of the United States. For more information about the CMP and its programs, log onto www.TheCMP.org.
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