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Northborough – Rio Ferguson of Northborough traveled to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Spring, Colo., April 6 to compete in his first National Junior Olympic Rifle Championships (NJORC). It was the second step to achieving his goal of medaling at the NJORC that he set two years ago when just 11 years old. The first step to reaching his goal required qualifying at the Massachusetts State Junior Olympics in one or both of the shooting disciplines – 3-Position Smallbore and International Air Rifle.
Rio won the State Smallbore Championship and placed third in Air Rifle competing against all juniors (20 years old and younger) in the state. His scores were high enough in his age group to get an automatic invitation to the National Championships in both shooting disciplines.
The Junior Olympics are divided into three age groups. At 13 years old, Rio competes this year in the J3 age group. Over 2,600 juniors from 49 states competed for invitations to the NJORCs.
From April 8-12, Rio competed in the air rifle, prone, and 3-position smallbore events.
The air rifle target is 10 meters away and the target is 1 millimeter in diameter, about the size of a dime. Rio finished with a score of 1196.6 and the silver medal in the J3 Men’s National Junior Olympics Air Rifle Championship.
3-Position Smallbore consists of two matches of 40 shots in each of three positions (kneeling, prone, and standing) for a total of 240 shots over six hours with a 15-pound smallbore rifle. After the first match Rio found himself trailing the previous year’s champion by 2 points. In the second match, Rio shot an 1128 to take the lead and win the gold medal with a total score of 2233 to 2223. Rio placed 33rd overall among all junior competitors in the 3-Position Smallbore.
Prone is shot lying on the ground and consists of 120 total shots over the course of two hours.
Rio’s first match score was a little disappointing leaving him in second place. He came back in the second match from a six-tenth of a point deficit to win gold by a score of 1202.9 to 1200.1.
Rio is coached by Amy Sowash and his father Jay Ferguson. Rio shoots on the Marlboro Fish & Game Junior Rifle Team. He is traveling to Camp Perry this month to compete in the USA Shooting Junior Olympic 3-Position Air Rifle Championship and is looking forward to more success. When not studying or shooting Rio has a passion for football, plays tennis, works out and enjoys video games. Rio is currently planning a career in the military.
