AU junior Jessica Syme is competing in the 2017 NRA Intercollegiate Pistol Championships March 20-24 in Fort Benning, Ga.

The championships have events in Free Pistol, Standard Pistol, Open Air Pistol, Women’s Air Pistol, and Women’s Sport Pistol.

Syme is competing in the Sport Pistol event after winning third place at the sectionals competition back in February. She is ranked eighth on Women’s Sport Pistol list of national competitors and is one of the twenty women competing at the championships.

Students from Ohio State University, the US Naval Academy, MIT, the US Coast Guard Academy, the US Military Academy, and a few other Universities are competing against Syme in the Women’s Sport Pistol event.

Syme started shooting sports over seven years ago after a friend of her father suggested her family join a 4-H club that focused on shooting sports and firearm safety. It became a family hobby, which inspired Syme to join the Ohio Rifle and Pistol Association’s Junior Pistol Program five years ago.

The Junior Pistol team, coached by Fred Totts, has won ten national championships and is the reigning champion of the NRA Bullseye Pistol National Championships.

Syme’s event is at 9 a.m. on March 23,  where she will compete for the Women’s Sport Pistol Championship. If she advances on, she will compete in the Women’s Sport Pistol Final at 11 a.m. the same day.

For more information on the competition visit: 

http://competitions.nra.org/championship-tournament/collegiate-pistol-championships.aspx