Two cadets from South Kitsap High School’s Naval Junior ROTC will compete Thursday in the elite 2013 Marine Corps and Navy JROTC Service Championship in Salt Lake City.
Janine Cooney and Brooke Warner, experts in air rifle
marksmanship, will represent the Navy’s Area 13, which includes the
northwestern United States, Alaska, Hawaii and Japan.
This is the first time anyone from South Kitsap’s NJROTC program
has qualified for the event, according to team coach Master Gunnery
Sgt. Mark Brosnan USMC (ret).
The selection of shooters to represent area 13 is a rigorous process, according to a press release from the ROTC program. Warner and Cooney, both seniors and college bound, earned spots in the match based on their scores in the Navy-wide JROTC air rifle competition.
“It is not only an honor for the cadets to represent South Kitsap and Area 13, but also a great opportunity to gain exposure to college rifle team coaches and widen their scholarship opportunities,” Brosnan said.
Cooney and Warner’s trip to Salt Lake is being sponsored by Bill Boerner of Boerner Firearms in Gorst. Boerner is a member of the local chapter of Friends of the NRA, which has donated in the past to the SKSD NJROTC program and other youth shooting programs. The high school faculty also raised funds for the cadets’ trip to Utah through an air rifle match.
