DoDEA Europe sends JROTC cadets to National Air Rifle Championships

DoDEA Europe has three JROTC programs, Wiesbaden, Kaiserslautern, and Stuttgart, represented with nine JROTC cadets competing in precision air rifle at JROTC National Air Rifle Championships. This achievement reflects a strong season in DoDEA Athletics and impressive showing at the JROTC Service Championships in February. The three teams represent the best of DoDEA Europe. The teams faced-off in the DoDEA Europe Finals 2025 and now in the JROTC National Championship at Camp Perry, Ohio. The field of JROTC teams span the services - US Army, US Air Force, US Navy, and US Marine Corps.  

The Civilian Marksmanship Program HQ is located at Camp Perry, home of historic National Matches. Teams start the path in the Championship match with an inspection of all rifles and equipment to ensure compliance with National Standards for Air Rifle. The athletes are given a one-hour training on the range targets under the piercing eyes of Range Officers and Judges checking compliance to rules and regulations.

Wiesbaden set school records in each category and earned the team slot in the Championship by taking 3rd Place US Army JROTC team based on a solid Day 1, and stellar Day 2 totals. Wiesbaden had three Warriors in the Camp Perry Regional Finals. Sophia Durant took third place in her first trip to Camp Perry while Aidan Sweney took 4th and three time Regional shooter Cydnee Lassiter made her second Regional Finals. 

 Kaiserslautern earned the Air Force slot after competing against all Air Force Teams at the CMP site at Anniston, Alabama. Kaiserslautern carried a match First Place for US Air Force JROTC teams and had five cadets in the Finals.  Auriana Davis finished 3d, Amanda Garcia placed 4th, Noah Truschinski 5th, Annalyn Higgins 7th and Korah Franz placed 10th overall. Kaiserslautern is Back-to-Back 2024 and 2025 AFJROTC National Champions and Back-to-Back DoDEA Europe Marksmanship Champions 2024 and 2025. Amanda Garcia led DoDEA Europe Air Rifle season in scoring in Season and Finals.

Stuttgart JROTC earned a slot for a top shooting individual from a non-qualifying team.  Aurora Mayo won the Camp Perry Regional Final by an insurmountable 5.4 point margin. She tied for total points at the end of DoDEA Air Rifle season with Amanda Garcia (Kaiserslautern), and led the Stuttgart HS team to the DoDEA 2025 top scoring team honors .and third place in DoDEA Euros just on one point behind Wiesbaden.

The JROTC National Air Rifle Championship is an annual event held over two days in March with Day 1 and Day 2 scores combined to determine the match score and select the top eight athletes. These eight athletes then compete in a Start from Zero finals which was adopted by CMP to align with the International Sport Shooting Federation (ISSF) governing body for shooting competitions.  All qualification scores are set to zero and Finals results determine the winner and podium places through 8th place. The option to see a live target display shows the cadet’s performance that can be viewed by friends and family around the world. The live targets in the Finals shows the results, the lead over other competitors and offers immediate updates to ranking in the match.

The cadets that score in the top 50% of non-distinguished competitors earn Excellence in Competition (EIC) points that lead to the highly coveted and much sought after Junior Distinguished Badge. The junior distinguished badge is the sign of excellence marksmanship.

DoDEA Europe having three schools involved in the CMP JROTC National Air Rifle Championships is an accolade earned by hard work and discipline by the athletes and support of their schools and Region.

Check out the live targets at the Gary Anderson Competition Center at Camp Perry, Ohio at Megalink Live.