CAMP PERRY, Ohio – SPC Amber Kingshill, 22, of the U.S. Military Marksmanship Unit (USAMU), met her objective for the 2025 Nationwide Matches at Camp Perry – fireplace the scores she is aware of she will attain.
Main as much as the annual Nationwide Matches, facilitated annually by the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP), Kingshill had been unhappy together with her wavering consistency in apply. As a former junior competitor with the California Grizzlies highpower workforce (a bunch that famously travels to Camp Perry yearly), she was conscious of the distinctive outside atmosphere solely discovered on the Nationwide Matches together with the extraordinary stress that comes with competing on the famend occasion – and he or she was longing for the problem.
“I shoot higher underneath match stress, and that’s laborious to simulate throughout apply,” she mentioned.
She began off her 2025 Nationwide Matches marketing campaign by claiming the Excessive Lady honor and third total within the prestigious President’s Rifle Match, with a rating of 395-13X.
Kingshill was happy together with her scores within the match, cleansing off-hand and capitalizing on this 12 months’s extra performative President’s shoot-off for the highest 20 opponents that featured a big scoring monitor and the relaying of scores over loudspeakers for the spectators in attendance. It was a mound of added stress that she welcomed, serving to her settle into her course of.
Staying in stride, she returned to the vary the subsequent day to complete inside the prime 10 out of over 800 opponents within the equally celebrated Nationwide Trophy Particular person (NTI) Match with a rating of 495-22X.
She was feeling comfy, getting again to her roots, when the best shock of her Nationwide Matches profession got here after she accomplished her string within the Nationwide Trophy Group (NTT) Match.
As she waited for her teammates to complete up their very own strings, she stepped again from the road and was met by just a few opponents who approached her, smiling, and shook her hand.
She wasn’t certain why till they advised her what she had simply completed.
Together with her mixed scores within the President’s Match, NTI and NTT, reaching a complete of 1,281-52X, she had grow to be simply the second girl in historical past to overhaul the coveted Mountain Man Trophy – one of many highest honors of the Nationwide Rifle Matches.
“I couldn’t cease saying, ‘That’s so cool,’” she mentioned with a beaming grin.
Kingshill went on so as to add her title to a different outstanding Nationwide Matches occasion by becoming a member of forces with USMAU teammate SSG David Bahten. The pair reached the general win within the Hearst Doubles paired occasion with a rating of 597-20X – simply lacking the present report set in 2016 by solely x-count.
“It was good capturing with SSG Bahten as a result of I used to be in a position to depend on him and all his years of capturing earlier than me,” Kingshill mentioned. “All I needed to do was lay subsequent to him and shoot.”
Main the revered NTI Match with an excellent rating of 498-23X (a brand new Citizen Soldier Trophy report) was SSG John Coggshall, 40, of Meriden, CT and the U.S. Military Reserve. He bested the subsequent three opponents by just one level, which included SFC Amanda Elsenboss, 36, of Williamsburg, VA, who earned the Ladies’s Trophy and a brand new report within the occasion.
Anna Behnke, Excessive Junior of the President’s Match, returned to safe the identical title within the NTI with a rating of 494-19X (eleventh total). She additionally secured the Col. Invoice Deneke Trophy as the highest junior within the combination for the Presidents, NTI and Nationwide Trophy Junior Group Match (which she received alongside teammate Casey Hollenbeck) – reaching a mixed rating of 1,280-47X.
Particular congratulations additionally go to Spencer Strickland, 41, of Lambsburg, VA, who was the highest non-distinguished competitor within the M16 Match (a part of the Small Arms Firing Faculty) and the highest Non-Distinguished within the NTI, together with Christopher Wyatt, 60, of West Kingston, RI, who set a brand new Excessive Senior report within the President’s Rifle Match with a rating of 393-15X.
Taking house the Alice Bull Trophy as the highest competitor within the President’s Match and NTI combination was James Fox, 40, of Albany, OR, with a rating of 792-32X. This was Fox’s third time incomes the award, having additionally finished so in 2019 and 2021.
In workforce occasions, the USAMU overtook the NTT with a rating of two,916-95X. Group members had been SSG Verne Conant, SPC Zevin Linse, SSG Jarrod McGaffic, SFC Alexander Deal, SSG Jared Desrosiers and SSG David Bahten. Coach was SGT Adam Fitzpatrick, whereas SSG Shane Butler served as Captain.
In the meantime, the Texas State Rifle Affiliation Gold claimed the Infantry Trophy as the general workforce within the Nationwide Trophy Infantry Group Match (Rattle Battle). It was solely the eighth time within the match’s 108-year historical past {that a} civilian workforce earned the general title within the match.
Discover a full record of outcomes of the 2025 Nationwide Matches at https://ct.thecmp.org/nmrifle25results. Images of all rifle occasions are additionally out there totally free viewing and obtain on the CMP’s Zenfolio web page at https://cmp1.zenfolio.com/f98188817.
SAVE THE DATE! The 2026 Nationwide Matches will likely be returning subsequent summer season for an additional month-long season of thrilling competitions and clinics! View all the 2026 calendar on the CMP web site at https://thecmp.org/cmp-national-matches!
The Civilian Marksmanship Program is a federally chartered 501 (c) (3) non-profit company that locations its highest precedence on firearms security and marksmanship actions, with a concentrate on youth. CMP’s applications encourage private progress and construct life abilities, with such initiatives as its junior coaching and competitors applications, Affiliated Membership program and scholarships offering assist to residents of all backgrounds throughout the nation. Be taught extra concerning the CMP at https://thecmp.org/.
