Rayanne McClure of Cortez has been shooting competitively for nearly nine years, and now shoots while also attending nursing school.
McClure’s brother initially got her into the sport when he shot competitively in Cortez with the Junior NRA shooting club before joining the U.S. Marine Corps.
“He kind of forced me into it, and I fell in love with it,” McClure said.
“He went to the Marines and kind of got away from it, but he definitely inspired me to do it and to continue to do it,” she said.
McClure has shot only with Cortez’s Junior NRA shooting club but will now move on to a new club after turning 21.
McClure won her last match, firing from the prone position against 49 other competitors in Grand Junction. She shoots with an Anschutz .22-caliber rifle, a German competition-grade rifle with a trigger pull of 2 to 4 ounces.
She also shot in the team competitions with her team consisting of Eli Bowman, Karissa Coley and Alana Coley, and said they won every competition except for one this season.
“I’m very proud of my team this season, especially since shooting sports are such a male-dominated sport,” she said. “Our team was mostly girls.”
In 2021, McClure qualified as a Distinguished Expert after four years of working toward it. The distinction “is the highest individual honor for excellence in the NRA’s marksmanship competitions.”
“Since then, my proficiency in the sport has only gotten better,” she said.
McClure said one of the biggest and most memorable shooting events she’s done thus far was an event in Colorado Springs a few years ago where she and some of her fellow club members shot against Olympic shooters.
“I did OK for where I was,” McClure said. “It was definitely eye-opening to see how talented they were.”
Not only did the event give McClure a taste of what it would be like to shoot at that elite level, but it also inspired her to continue working and shoot for competing at the Olympics herself one day.
“I would love to give it a shot,” she said. “That’s definitely a goal for me.”
Until then, McClure is continuing to shoot and finding her shooting niche without the Junior Shooters. She is attending classes online at USC Cal State with the hopes of becoming a flight medic.
Once she finishes her prerequisites online, she will start attending college in person and will look for a shooting club in her new college town to keep working toward both of her goals.
When asked about her time in the Junior Shooters, McClure said her club “is the coolest there.” She said all coaches for the club are volunteers, and those who join the club don’t have to own or provide their own firearm, ammunition or gear. It is all provided to youths who join the club.
“They’re all super-good people, and it’s a really good club,” McClure said. “I encourage any young person who’s even slightly interested to look at it.”
