At the 2024 CMP Dixie Double, U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit shooter Spc. Jared Eddy picked up dual wins. The 24-year-old triumphed over a field of 100 competitors in air rifle and more than 60 smallbore rifle shooters.
The Dixie Double is an indoor air gun competition for adult and junior athletes held at the Judith Legerski CMP Competition Center in Alabama. This year’s match was held from October 24-27. The schedule features two days of 60-shot international air rifle and air pistol competitions in Open and Junior categories, with qualification scores and finals fired each day. In addition, an outdoor 3x20 smallbore match fired on electronic targets was held at the nearby Talladega Marksmanship Park.
Behind Eddy in air rifle was Peter Fiori, 24, of Lebanon, New Jersey, who improved one spot from his 2023 performance. Additionally, Eddy’s U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit teammate, Sgt. Levi Clark, 26, walked away from the competition in third place.
As for the Junior Air Rifle Match, the defending champion, 17-year-old Mackenzie Kring of Peyton, Colorado, reclaimed her title. Last year’s runner-up, Tyler Wee, 17, of Wake Forest, North Carolina, also landed in the same place in 2024, as Grayson Muller, 16, of Shreveport, Louisiana, earned third overall.
The 3x20 smallbore rifle competition made its second appearance at the 2024 Dixie Double, after its introduction last year’s event. This match is open to both adult and junior athletes.
Finding second behind Eddy in smallbore was Tyler Wee, while the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit’s Tim Sherry, age 30, earned third. Something else to note—Wee was also the highest scoring junior at the match.
In air pistol, Olympian James Hall, 40, of Rocheport, Missouri, secured the Open match title, while Timothy Schmeltzer, 27, of Greenville, Michigan, finished as runner-up. Nathalia Tobar, 37, of Phenix City, Alabama, took third place. More than 30 athletes competed in the discipline.
Reese Metzler, 20, of Elizabeth, Colorado, led the Junior Air Pistol competition, with Scarlett Perkins, 17, of Tucson, Arizona, and Bhargavi Gawande, 15, of Lutz, Florida, finishing in second and third places, respectively.
Hall and Perkins paired up to form “SASP – Super Awesome Shooting Partners” in the two-person team match, taking the lead via X-count with a score of 2219-46X. The team event for both air rifle and air pistol joins a Junior and Open competitor on the firing line, combining their day one and day two qualifying scores from their individual performances.
Topping the air rifle team leaderboard was “Bake & Shake” (Lucas Kozeniesky and Mackenzie Kring), winning the match with 26-point margin over the second place team.
Also returning to the Dixie Double this year was the Target Sprint, which if for individuals ages 10 and up. Target Sprint participants run along a marked path, occasionally stopping to fire air rifles at five 10-meter falling targets. All targets must be knocked over before participants repeat the route, with the first to cross the finish line is declared the winner.
2024 Dixie Double Target Sprint Leaderboard
Overall Open
- Chance Cover, 33, Ardmore, Oklahoma
- Tim Schmeltzer, 27, Greenville, Michigan
- Will Steffes, 22, Arthur, North Dakota
Overall Junior
- Clay Seller, 21, Bulverde, Texas
- Ben Malave, 16, York, Pennsylvania
- Brian Synstelien, 20, Moorhead, Minnesota
“The 2024 Dixie Double went well overall this year, even with a short delay due to a power outage on day two of air gun,” JT Schnering, manager of the air gun range said. “I am very thankful for the range staff that was there, as they unloaded the competitors’ guns immediately while we got the targets back online in the range stand.”
“There are some small tweaks we want to make for next year to make it an even better experience for the athletes and spectators, and we look forward to welcoming everyone back again,” Schnering added.
See the full results of the 2024 Dixie Double air gun and smallbore match at the CMP website.
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