Cadets Tiffany Rock ’28, Sofia Fleming ’28, Kate Patrick ’27, Chris Olsen ’25, Bill Gray ’27, Jamie Palacio ’27, and Chase Boucher ’27, pistol club members, and Jan Downs, assistant coach, celebrate their achievement. Not pictured are Reese McCormick, head coach, and Cadet Andrei Hipol ’28.—Photo courtesy Patrick.
The pistol club at Virginia Military Institute finished in seventh place at the National Collegiate Pistol Championship held in mid-March in Anniston and Talladega, Alabama.
The VMI contingent consisted of eight shooters: Cadets Chris Olsen ’25, Chase Boucher ’27, Jamie Palacio ’27, and Kate Patrick ’27, who competed as a four-person team, and Cadets Bill Gray ’27, Sofia Fleming ’28, Andrei Hipol ’28, and Tiffany Rock ’28, who competed as individuals. The club held a national rank of 10th place going into the competition.
According to Reese McCormick, head coach, there are normally three events in the competition: Air pistol, sport pistol, and standard pistol. However, because of inclement weather, the standard pistol competition was canceled. “VMI placed sixth in sport pistol and 11th in air pistol, with the combined scores putting us in seventh place. This is the highest ranking VMI has ever achieved and only the second time VMI has held a national ranking in pistol,” he proudly reported.
Boucher, who led the team in scoring and is currently ranked 37th nationally, confessed that his scores shooting as an individual were unexpected. “I improved my sport pistol record by nearly 70 points. As a team, I know we all did well.”
This was the third and final year for Olsen—who graduated in May—to compete with the team. He shared that it has been a privilege working with McCormick. “We secured VMI’s first-ever invitation to collegiate nationals in 2022 to being invited each year since. I am extremely proud that this year, we managed to achieve a ranking of seventh overall with three top-50 individual placements. For myself, I’m happy to have achieved two top-50 rankings and [to hold] VMI’s highest ever individual collegiate rankings for two consecutive years: 2023 and 2024.”
Eighteen colleges were represented at the championship, with 93 shooters competing. The Ohio State University was the first-place winner, followed by the U.S. Naval Academy in second and the U.S. Military Academy in third.
Assisting in coaching the club this year are Robert Coleman, Norman Claytor, and Jan Downs.
Editor's Note: Story originally published by Virginia Military Institute.
