Sara Rozanski receives the Women’s Trophy NTI winner’s plaque, presented by Col. Michael A. Hrynciw, Ohio Air National Guard Red Horse Squadron at the National Trophy awards ceremony at Camp Perry.

BY STEVE COOPER, CMP

Sara Rozanski, of Elmore, recently topped all female competitors in the National Trophy Individual Match (NTI) with a new record score of 496-22X, winning the Women’s Trophy at the National Matches at Camp Perry.

Rozanski’s performance eclipsed the previous women’s record of 496-19X by center shot X-ring tie-breaker, last set by the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit’s Amanda Elsenboss in 2017.

“It’s been a rough year, so this will most definitely be the highlight. It felt amazing to be able to pull it together and perform well,” Rozanski said following the match.

“I went back to 600 yards thinking about just doing my best,” she said. Rozanski’s scores by stage were 100-2X standing, 98-2X rapid sitting, 99-6X rapid prone and she completed the course with 199-12X prone at the 600-yard line.

In a very competitive knot at the top of the ranks among all competitors she finished fifth overall after tie-breakers, just one point out of first place and four points from a perfect score of 500. A total of 992 competitors fired in this year’s NTI match that dates back to 1904 – the second year of the National Matches, originally fired at Sea Girt, N.J.

“It’s an honor to set a new women’s record since the level of competition is so high. It gives one a sense of accomplishment knowing you are competing against the best competitors this sport has to offer,” Rozanski said.

The NTI course of fire, with no sighters, consists of 10 shots standing slow fire at 200 yards, followed by 10 shots sitting (or kneeling) from standing, rapid fire in 60 seconds at 200 yards, 10 shots prone from standing, rapid fire in 70 seconds at 300 yards. The match concludes with 20 shots prone slow fire in a time limit of 20 minutes at 600 yards.

Rozanski has been competing in highpower rifle events since she was 16 years old, when she learned to compete with the semi-automatic civilian equivalent of the Army’s M14 rifle, commonly referred to as the M1A.

Rozanski serves as the Civilian Marksmanship Program’s highpower rifle program coordinator at its facility in Port Clinton.

The National Matches were moved to the Ohio National Guard’s Camp Perry near Port Clinton in 1907, having run out of room at Sea Girt after four years. Camp Perry’s ranges included ample pistol facilities and rifle ranges out to 1,000 yards and boasted the longest continuous firing line in the world.