The CMP hosted the New England Games for the eighth time at Camp Ethan Allen in picturesque Jericho, Vermont, in September.
Jam-packed with fun from the start, the smell of fall was in the air at the competition—one shooter even brought a custom carved pumpkin to display at the check-in area.
The weather couldn’t have been more gorgeous, minus one day of torrential rain. The morning air was crisp and felt like the start of “sweatah weather.” Mountains provided the perfect backdrop to the event. If you weren’t focused on your target downrange or catching up with other competitors, you could look out to the mountains and watch the crimson leaves grow brighter every day.
The weeklong competition shooting extravaganza kicked off with an introductory class for both Rifle and Pistol, followed by an Excellence-In-Competition (EIC) match for each, where the top 10 percent of competitors were awarded their first EIC points towards earning a Distinguished Badge.
Paul Edwards won the Rifle EIC match with a score of 366-4X, while John Desroches took first place in the Pistol EIC match with 274-3X.
Nathan Zajac dominated multiple pistol categories, showcasing his precision and high-level shooting after claiming the top spot in not only the 40-Shot Pistol Match, but also the Pistol EIC Match, EIC Service Revolver Match, .22 Rimfire Aggregate, Match Pistol 2700 Any Sights and Overall Individual Pistol Aggregate. Zajac was also a part of “Range 5-1,” the winning team in the Two-Person Pistol Team event.
Tech. Sgt. Nicolas Poirier also had an impressive showing in Vermont. Discipline, accuracy and consistency earned him first place in the Center Fire 900 Aggregate and .45 Pistol Aggregate for Any Sights.
In the Metallic Sight categories, Tech. Sgt. Christopher DeForge was the person to beat, with a score of 742-9X in the .45 Pistol 900 Aggregate and 2240-29X in the Match Pistol 2700 Aggregate. Additionally, David Valintakonis topped the leaderboard in both of those matches for .22 only with scores of 795-8X and 2394-42X, respectively.
CMP’s Brian Williams traded in his KTS iPad for his gun to win the Garand Match with a score of 291-5X. He wasn’t finished—after that, Williams won in the Modern Military Match with a score of 291-11X.
Another Brian who posted excellent scores and placed first in the Springfield and Three-Gun Aggregate was Brian Appel, posting scores of 291-9X and 855-16X, respectively. He also won all three days of the 800 Aggregate for Civilian Service Rifle, ranking him third overall for the 2400 Overall Aggregate, a scant two points behind the runner-up, Staff Sgt. Verne Conant of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit.
With a score of 2373-111X, the winner of the 2400 Service Rifle Aggregate was Private 1st Class Amber Kingshill, also with the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit. She was able to edge out Conant by just one point.
Kingshill garnered enough hardware that she needed to find room in her luggage for her trip back to Georgia. She reflected on her victory.
“We had a pretty rainy start to the 2400 Aggregate, but I was pleased it ended on such a nice day,” Kingshill said. “Sitting back here at the 600-yard line, all I could tell myself was ‘target 11 … target 11 … target 11 …’ and then just shot my match. It was cool to get a win out of it.”
You can view the full results of the 2024 New England Games at this link.
The next CMP New England Games will be held in September 2025, with the date announcement coming soon.
Learn more about the Civilian Marksmanship Program at thecmp.org.
