Camp Perry, Ohio– February 2025– The 2025 Camp Perry Open was a remarkable start to the year for a few decorated athletes on the range – with repeat wins, joyful homecomings and a return to roots marking the occasion.
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The indoor air rifle and air pistol event for adults and juniors was hosted by the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) at the Gary Anderson CMP Competition Center the weekend of Jan. 17-19. This was the first the event had been held in January since 2020 after moving to a May time slot the last four years.
The Camp Perry Open features a junior three-position precision/sporter air rifle match as well as 60 shot air rifle/pistol competitions, split into Open and Junior categories. Each event includes qualifying rounds, followed by a final to determine overall winners. Team events were also held concurrently.
Suman Sanghera, 19, of Great Falls, VA, is a past champion of the Camp Perry Open – having won the Junior portion of the match in 2022 and 2023 along with adding an overall Open win during the latter. After taking a short break from the event last year, she returned in 2025 to reclaim her place as the leading pistol competitor in both the Junior and Open Air Pistol events.
“Sometimes getting lost in the process is the best strategy,” she said of her performances over the weekend. “There’s no need to put too much conscious input or too much effort into something you’ve already trained so much for.”
“I wanted to use this as a training match to kind of see where I was at,” she went on. “It was a good improvement-oriented match.”
As a cognitive science major at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, her busy schedule had caused her to take a pause from competition and training. She arrived back on campus the week of the Camp Perry Open and was eager to also return to the firing line.
“It’s always great to be back. It’s that feeling that you sort of miss,” she admitted.
Following in second behind Sanghera in the Open competition was Timothy Schmeltzer, 27, of Sandusky, OH, with Nathalia Tobar, 37, of Phenix City, AL, finding third.
Tobar had an incredible showing of her own at the event – setting a new national record score of 588-22X on the second day of the qualifying round.
“I was hoping for something in the 80s, but I didn’t know it was that high,” she said with a laugh.
Tobar is an international-level athlete, but after a family tragedy, she took an extended break from competing to cope. She recently decided she was ready to get back into the range and, after leading the Camp Perry Open Super Final and achieving an outstanding score, is thrilled to see positive outcomes from her efforts.
“I had no expectations,” she said of coming into the match. “Since last year, things have been coming together. The hard work has been paying off.”
In another homecoming, SGT Ivan Roe, 29, of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) led the 60 Shot Rifle Open competition, edging a win over Elizabeth Schmeltzer, 26, of Sandusky, OH. Roe’s USAMU teammate, SSG Brandon Muske, 30, earned the third place position.
This was only Roe’s second competition since representing the United States at the 2024 Paris Olympics where the experience of being a member of Team USA was, as he said, second-to-none. Though he brought lessons from Paris to Camp Perry, he was looking forward to settling into his usual competitive routines in a more familiar setting.
“I kind of just wanted to get a feel for the positions again and get used to shooting the process – doing things the right way and be less concerned about the results,” he said.
A bonus event exclusive to the Camp Perry Open is the anticipated Super Final – featuring costumes, cowbells, music, and even noise makers that bring fun to the match. During the Super Final, the top 38 competitors from each of the day’s air rifle and air pistol qualification round meet on the firing line to compete in an intense elimination event. The competition goes on until only one athlete remains.
Tobar, of course, was the leading air pistol competitor, with Sanghera following in second. The USAMU’s SGT Levi Clark bested Elizabeth Schmeltzer for the overall win in the rifle competition.
During the junior 3×20 event, Hunter Jenkins, 16, of Washington, PA, earned the overall win in the precision category, while Bethany Shirley, 18, of Monroe, GA, claimed sporter.
Top athletes of the 2025 Camp Perry Open:
Air Rifle 3×20:
Sporter:
- Bethany Shirley, 18, Monroe, GA
- Brayden Rich, 17, Winthrop Harbor, IL
- Gianna Gomez, 17, Zion, IL
Precision:
- Hunter Jenkins, 16, Washington, PA
- Maggie Palfrey, 16, Indiana, PA
- Avery Hines, 14, Lockbourne, OH
Air Rifle Overall Teams:
Sporter: Zion Benton High School Navy JROTC (Illinois) – 2155-53X
Precision: Frazier Junior Rifle (Pennsylvania) – 2327-144X
60 Shot Rifle Final:
Open:
- SGT Ivan Roe, 29, Manhattan, MT
- Elizabeth Schmeltzer, 26, Sandusky, OH
- SSG Brandon Muske, 30, Midland, GA
Junior:
- Devin Wagner, 17, Jefferson Hills, PA
- Karlie Lynn, 16, Hopewell, PA
- Emily Yang, 16, Maple, ON
60 Shot Pistol Final:
Open:
- Suman Sanghera, 19, Great Falls, VA
- Timothy Schmeltzer, 27, Sandusky, OH
- Nathalia Tobar, 37, Phenix City, AL
Junior
- Suman Sanghera, 19, Great Falls, VA
- Saanvi Singh, 16, Schaumburg, IL
- Dalton Bergman, 15, Oak Harbor, OH
60 Shot Rifle Teams:
Open: USAMU (SGT Ivan Roe, SSG Brandon Muske, SGT Levi Clark) – 3752.1
Junior: Everett Junior Rifle Club (Karlie Lynn, Kinzey Williams, Jolynn Mickle) – 3687.0
60 Shot Pistol Teams:
Open: Patriots (Timothy Schmeltzer, Sergey Kalinichenko, David Betterly) – 3312-58X
Junior: None
View a complete list of results on CMP’s Competition Tracker page at https://ct.thecmp.org/2025CPOResults.
Photos of the event may be viewed and downloaded for free at https://cmp1.zenfolio.com/f260255102.
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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