Whitefish girl is top gun for third year

By DAVID ERICKSON / Whitefish Pilot

For the third straight year, Whitefish High School junior Carmen Luke has won the state 4-H Shooting Sports small-bore (.22-caliber) competition.

Luke also took first in the Precision Air Rifle Standing Match, a first for her. The competition takes place in Bozeman every year, and Luke estimated she was competing against the top-15 shooters in the state. Nearly 200 students attented the competition.

In the small-bore relay, Luke finished with 558 points out of a possible 600, one point better than her nearest competitor and teammate, Nathaniel Probert, of Kalispell.

Luke had to shoot at two targets 50 feet away in three different positions — prone, standing and kneeling. She fired 20 rounds from each position, so each target gets 10 shots from each position. Points are determined by the distance each round is from the bulls-eye center.

Luke has been shooting since she was in fifth-grade, when her mother Velma Luke taught her the fundamentals. She also credits her uncle Scott Svee and aunt Katherine Svee with helping her progress, along with Rachel Vandevoort.

"I like it because it's different from other sports," Carmen said. "You can be a part of a team, or you can have your chance to shine individually."

Luke said she enjoys the challenge of competitive marksmanship, but it's a difficult sport.

"It takes a lot of concentration," she said. "There aren't a lot of younger people that win because you have to work your way up to it. The standing position is probably the hardest, because when you're kneeling, you have more points of contact, but it depends on body type. You have to hold your breath for each shot."

Luke said the .22 has just a little bit of kickback. The air rifle, which shoots pellets, has no kickback whatsoever.

Luke will be traveling to Missoula this weekend to compete in a National Rifle Association-sanctioned competition. Her motives for shooting competitively are not limited to pure fun.

"I want to get a college scholarship for shooting sports," she said. "I'm hoping to go to Reno. My cousin received a scholarship for shooting."

Luke explained that it's sometimes easier for girls to get scholarships for shooting sports because schools are required to give out the same number of scholarships to men and women.

"If a school has a football team, that means there's a lot of scholarships for women that they have to give out," she said.

Luke is also a member of the Whitefish High School choir and drumline, but she says she may have to let those passions go when she gets to college.

"I just won't have time for everything, but I want to focus on shooting for sure," she said.