Jonathan Russell Earns Silver Medal at National Jr. Olympic Championships

Pictured above: Jonathan takes aim during the Smallbore Match near Talladega, Alabama.

Practice makes perfect and that practice is beginning to pay off for 8th grader, Jonathan Russell of Emlenton who earned a Silver Medal at the National Jr. Olympics in Alabama.

Russell who began shooting at the young age of five, recently competed in both the Air Rifle and Small Bore Rifle in the U15 age group at the National Junior Olympics Championship. (Anyone born between 2010 and 2025 by the end of 2025).

The National Jr. Olympics has three separate categories and age groups for boys and girls of which the U15 is the youngest age group. John has one more year to compete in this age group before moving up to the next level, giving him another chance at the gold medal.

To get to Nationals, Jonathan qualified at the Pennsylvania Junior Olympic State Championships in Dubois in February. At the State Championship, John took the top spot for his age group (U15) in both the Air Rifle and Smallbore (.22 cal.)

At Nationals in the Smallbore match, each participant shoots twenty shots in a kneeling, prone and standing position. They shoot each of these matches twice with a two day total score crowning the winners. Russell shot a two day total of 1,073 under very windy conditions the second day to come away with the silver medal.

Jonathan with the Silver medal he earned in the Smallbore competition.

In the Air Rifle division, Russell took 4th place, just missing a medal in that category. In the Air Rifle competition, matches are held at 10 meters with sixty shots taken offhand.

The Air Rifle match was held in Anniston, Alabama and the Smallbore was near Talladega, Alabama. Both matches were run by USA Shooting at facilities operated by the Civilian Marksmanship Program.

During the week Russell spends an average of about eight to ten hours per week fine tuning his shooting skills. Typically he shoots about 300 rounds. He practices smallbore twice a week with at least one day of live fire. He also uses a Scatt training device to help track his shots and help diagnose issues.

He meets twice a month with his 4-H group for his Air Rifle practice as well as shooting at home each week.

The youngster competes in the Pittsburgh and Suburban Rifle League once a week during the winter shooting smallbore with a total of 18 weeks of league matches per year. In the last twelve months, Jonathan has competed in 14 smallbore matches (other than league matches) and 27 Air Rifle matches.

Locally, Jonathan shoots with the Venango County Deadeyes 4-H group and shoots on the Oil City Junior Rifle Team. Both the 4-H group and the team meet at the Oil City Izaak Walton.

Jonathan is in the 8th grade at A-C Valley and is also a member of the Cross Country team. He stays in shape by running and doing balance exercises.

Russell is currently working towards the rank of “Eagle” Scout.

Jonathan is the son of Nathan and Melissa Russell of Emlenton and the grandson of Frank and Irene Russell of Emlenton and Art and Janet Keefer of Perry Township.