University of Virginia Library

Gunners Place First In Region

Cavalier hand gunners "shot it
out" with the nationally top-ranked
Naval Academy and three other
colleges to win a critical match in
the Intercollegiate Pistol Sectional
at Annapolis this weekend. The
U.Va. team fired 992 out of 1200
to sink highly-touted Navy's 947 in
the International-type Team Match,
winning a trophy and set of silver
medals.

Team Captain George
Duckworth led with 257 out of
300, while newest team member
Eric Helvestine distinguished
himself with 252. Preston Hewitt
and Dave Smathers fired 243 and
240, respectively, for a team total
which embarrassed second-place
Navy by a solid 45 point margin.
The International-type event is a
demanding test of slow-fire
precision with .22-caliber match
pistols. International targets
smaller than standard American
targets, have an innermost 10-ring
only 1 centimeter (about 2/5 inch)
in diameter within a bullseye less
than 2 ¼ inches across, shot at a
distance of 50 feet.

About 60 individuals from
Virginia, Naval Academy,
Villanova, University of
Pennsylvania, and Merchant Marine
Academy competed in the various
events of the Sectional on Saturday
and Sunday. Navy alone entered
over 30 individual and 6 teams in a
bid to sweep the matches by weight
of numbers, which was thwarted
mainly by the training and
determination of U.Va.'s four-man
team and two alternates, Jeff Stine
and Don Anderson. In addition to
the International-match victory, the
Cavalier team claimed the
second-place medals in the
Conventional team match with a
formidable 1128 out of 1200. In
the Individual matches, George
Duckworth received the
second-place International medal
with 261 out of 300, and the third
Conventional medal with 860 out
of 900. Dave Smathers won the
third-place International medal
with 260.

Scores fired in this Sectional
will be used for rankings in the
National Intercollegiate
Championships, and preliminary
reports from other Sectionals
indicate that the U.Va. scores will
probably win additional National
awards.

A 6-session Marksmanship
course will be conducted by NRA
Certified Instructors in the
basement range of Maury Hall at 7
P.M. on Thursdays beginning March
18.