Based upon the results from the National JROTC Postal Match conducted in November, qualifying teams were then invited to compete in the Service championship at the Civilian Marksmanship Program facility at its Headquarters at Camp Perry. As a result of their 10th place finish out of 58 teams in the Northeast region of the country including Alaska and Germany, Western Brown's team was one of 18 teams invited from the northeast region and one of only 54 teams in the country (out of nearly 200 teams) to qualify and earn an invitation to compete in the Service Championship. The team was able to send 4 shooters and 1 alternate with all 5 able to shoot in the competition.
On Thursday, 16 February, the team consisting of Bethany Moler, Andrew Leimberger, Austin Parrett, Caleb Penn and Alex Gunsburg (along with coach LTC Timothy Gobin) traveled to the CMP Gary Anderson Air Rifle Range for this 3-day competition. The first day consisted of team check-in as well as rifle, equipment and clothing inspection and a team practice session. On Friday and Saturday, the team then competed in a 3 x 20 record fire competition consisting of targets fired in the prone, standing and kneeling positions.
At the end of the day 2 record fire session, the team from Western Brown found itself finishing in 8th place in its region (20 teams) and placed 34th overall in the country (54 Teams). LTC Gobin commented "I'm very proud of our young team and its performance especially since this was their first time qualifying. This was some of the best JROTC Rifle teams in the country, so we did exceptional well for our first trip".
The Broncos highest placing individual shooter was senior Bethany Moler who shot a score of 1052 earning her 11th place in the region just 8 points out from placing 8th. Additionally, she placed 63rd overall in the country out of 275 shooters that competed in the championship. Coach Gobin commented "Bethany is our only senior on the team and serves as team captain. She clearly stepped up and shot a super match. On day one, she set school records in both the standing position and overall score". He went on to also say that the other four shooters also all improved their day 2 scores with team members Caleb Penn and Austin Parrett also shooting personal best scores adding to the success of the team. As a combined team, a final score of 3995 was the highest score in team history.
Coach Gobin is excited about the team's future and looks forward to returning next year with a group of experience shooters. He stated that his young team beat a number experienced teams that had been to the championship in previous years, so in some way this first year was a learning experience both for me as a coach as well as for the shooters. This was a great experience for my shooters, and we look forward to getting back to the championship next year".