CAMP PERRY, Ohio – The entire National Smallbore Prone 6400 Aggregate championship came down to millimeters.
The event was part of the Civilian Marksmanship Program’s (CMP) 2024 National Matches and was the culmination of four straight days of prone competition. Tight rounds of qualification matches saw the top three places separated by one point each, with John Whidden, 48, of Nashville, GA, leading the pack on the last leg of the match. All he needed was a clean round of shots in the 10 ring – a perfect score of 400 – to claim victory.
“A Prone 6400 Match is a marathon, and this, essentially, was a photo finish,” said Brad Donoho, CMP Smallbore Manager. “It was a high pressure situation where even I was nervous.”
The use of CMP’s electronic targets during the entire National Smallbore phase made the ending of the prone matches even more compelling, with spectators able to view each shot in real time on large monitors placed throughout the range.
Those watching stayed steady in their seats, fixated on each shot that appeared on the screen. Whidden had been consistent throughout his entire National Matches appearance, having only dropped five points in the previous 15 rounds of the competition. His confidence continued as he took each shot. Then, unexpectedly, he pulled one left – just grazing the edge line of the 10-ring. An eye opener, to be sure.
Despite the close call, he pressed on.
“He finished out the match really strong,” Donoho said. “To see it all come down to the last shot was really incredible.”
Whidden took his final shot – another 10. With a sigh of relief, he packed up his gear and walked off the firing line with a perfect score of 400 and the overall Open win in the Smallbore Prone 6400 Aggregate with a score of 6395-515X.
Whidden’s fellow competitors on the line also gave outstanding performances that day, with second place finisher SSG Nickolaus Mowrer, 35, of Colorado Springs, CO, earning a score of 6394-544X, and SGT Levi Clark, 26, of Phenix City, AL, following just behind Mowrer with a score of 6393-540X for third.
“I’ve known John for a few years now, and his resiliency in competition is really a reflection of his character, as a human being,” Donoho added. “That final day of the prone matches was really a great ending to a very exciting National Smallbore series. We’re already looking forward to next year’s event.”
Whidden also led the Iron Sight 3200 Championship after accruing a score of 3198-235X, again surpassing Clark and Mowrer who earned second and third, respectively, in the match.
In the Any Sight 3200 Championship, Shane Barnhart, 45, of Cardington, OH, narrowly found the top spot by x-count. Barnhart, Mowrer and SSG Jared Desrosiers each drew a perfect score of 3200, with Barnhart tacking on 295X to Mowrer’s 288X. Desrosiers, 27, of Smiths Station, AL, added 258X of his own to his score.
Other top performers of the Smallbore Prone matches were Samuel Pagliari, 70, of Oil City, PA, who earned overall wins in all F-Class competitions, and Zachary Osvald, 20, of Durham, CT, who earned High Junior honors in both the Iron Sight 3200 and 6400 Aggregate events. Dominic Baliva, 16, of Rochester, NY, claimed the High Junior title in the Any Sight Match.
Additionally, Deena McDorman, 57, of Colorado Springs, was High Woman of the Iron Sight 3200 and the 6400 Aggregate, while the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit’s SGT Alison Weisz, coming off of an overall win in the National Matches three-position smallbore series, earned the High Woman title in the Any Sight event.
Find a complete list of results of the 2024 National Matches Smallbore & Air Gun Championships at https://ct.thecmp.org/2024NMAGSBResults. Photos of all events of the 2024 National Matches may be viewed and downloaded for free at https://cmp1.zenfolio.com/f456222492.
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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