Carson shooters have record day

Cody Stokes was near perfect and he had three teammates who weren't far behind as the Carson High School Naval Junior ROTC program had a record-setting day during its own Sierra Nevada Top Gun Match on Saturday.

Stokes shot a 270 - out of a possible 300 - the best individual score ever logged on the Carson High School range to lead the way as Carson's "A" and "B" teams swept the top two places during the five-school match.

Stokes and Leah Taboada (261) finished first and third respectively in the overall individual competition and the Carson A team finished first overall with a range-record total of 1,022 (1,200 is perfect).

"That's the highest team score we've ever had on this range," said Wayne Baker, who started the Carson rifle program eight years ago. "Anytime you get over 1,000, that is shooting pretty well."

The same Carson A team quartet - Sarah Stadler (248), Mike Moltz (243), Taboada and Stokes - also combined to win at the Nevada State Free Sporter Free Position Championships last week at Carson.

The Carson B team - Robert Bagley (255), Chad Shroy (250), Andrew Stephenson (243) and Gene Sitts (242) - edged defending champion Reed 990-989 for second-place.

"We have eight shooters who are shooting really well right now," Baker said. "It's pretty tight."

That was particularly true in the Prone competition, where Carson posted the top five scores: Stokes (95), Moltz (94), Taboada (94), Stadler (94) and Stephenson (94).

Stokes and Taboada also earned first- and third-place medals in Standing with their respective scores of 87 and 80.

To show further depth, Carson also won the novice team title with an 871 total. Jaime Greene (244) and Ardin Patterson (231) were first and second in the novice individual competition. They were joined on the winning novice team by Mike Hunyh (208) and Tyson Curran (188).

Fallon, Incline, South Tahoe and Damonte Ranch also sent teams to the match.

Carson, 8-1 in regular season league matches, has a chance to wrap up its Southern Division championship Tuesday with a win at Wooster. The Northern Nevada Championships are scheduled to be held on Feb. 5.