2024 Daisy Nationals – Best Match Ever!
It was a big year for the 2024 Daisy National BB Gun Championship Match (Daisy Nationals). We had the very first Top Gun Shoot Off where we gave away more than $9,000 in further education funds, and were honored to have the new NRA President, Bob Barr, speak at Opening Ceremony. There was all of the usual fun with the contests, Barter Bar and the night at the Rogers Aquatic Park, too. Plus, somewhere in all that fun was a National Championship shooting match!
The 2024 Daisy Nationals adventure started on Sunday, June 30 with registration and gun inspections. Teams and families arrived throughout the day, with many hallway reunions of old friends and the anticipation of competition. Things really kicked off on Monday with practice rounds flying for both the BB and the 10-Meter Air Rifle competitors. In the afternoon all of the competitors convened in the big auditorium for the 50-question written test, which covers many aspects of gun safety and match rules. The test makes up one-fifth of the shooter’s score. With 100 points possible for the test, and 100 points possible for each of the four shooting positions, a competitor is shooting for 500 points. In many cases, a good or bad score on the test has made a difference in where a shooter finishes.
After the stress of the test, the kids were extra-excited about the Opening Ceremony. They had just enough time to return to their rooms and get ready, then return for the big show. Opening Ceremony is always a fun time, with the kids allowed to get rambunctious and bat around beach balls, watch the slide show of their pictures, and catch T-shirts from the T-shirt cannon before the event begins.
Opening Ceremony features all the entrapments of any other opening, including speakers and plenty of “thank you’s” to sponsors and volunteers, but the Daisy Nationals version also includes contests for most original T-shirt design, most patriotic and costume/theme, plus we award the winners of the car decorating and painted gun contest. All winners get gift cards from Academy Sports & Outdoors and Bass Pro Shops.
Opening Ceremony
The most anticipated part of the Opening is the Parade of Teams, when each team circles the auditorium to mount the National Championship podium for pics. This gives everyone a chance to see the team’s t-shirt, patriotic dress or costume.
Speakers for 2024 included two important men, Scott Stuhr, 4H Shooting Sports Program Coordinator, and new NRA President Bob Barr.
Competition started bright and early on Tuesday, July 2, with both BB and Air Rifle competitors at the line all day. But each competitor was looking forward to the annual Barter Bar that kicked off at 5:30. All of the competitors and coaches bring items from their area to trade with each other. Items are as varied as arts and crafts, shed antlers or pheasant feathers, food items that represent their area, and, of course, potted possum and plenty of Daisy stuff.
The shooting competition wrapped up at 3 p.m. on July 3, and the inaugural Top Gun Shoot Off started at 4. This event featured the top 10 scorers in the Individual High Aggregate category in the standing position only, competing for up to $3,000 in further education funds. Shooters who placed 5th through 10th received $500 each, fourth got $750, third, $1,000, second, $2,000 and first place took home $3,000.
Then came the Closing Ceremony, when the medals and trophies are awarded. The t-shirt cannon returned, and beach balls batted around, medals awarded and then everyone headed to the Aquatic Park for an afterparty.
The 2024 Daisy Nationals was certainly one for the books, and here’s to making 2025 even bigger!
Winners
The first champion of the Top Gun Shoot-Off was Carly Stover of the Penns Valley, PA, team. In second was Chase Perico of Wyandotte County 4H (Kansas) and in third was Taylor Slider from the team out of Montana, the Yellowstone Young Guns.
Daisy awards the Paul T. Teifer Award each year, given to the teams with the highest combined score on the written test. The entire shooting program is built on a foundation of education and learning – before any team member ever touches a BB gun, he or she must spend at least 10 hours in a classroom setting learning gun safety and procedures. The Daisy Nationals written test supports this continued education. In 2024, Roberts County, S.D., took third in the Paul T. Teifer award, Walton County (Georgia) placed second and there was a tie for first place. Both the Humboldt Sharpshooters and the Middeltown Marksmen (Pennsylvania) took home trophies.
This year in the Air Rifle Match, the Bronze Medal went to Bethany Shirley from Walton County, Ga. Silver went to Emma Allen of Appling County, Ga., and the Gold Medal winner in the 2024 Daisy Air Rifle Match was Makenna Quick from the Guns R Us team out of Carroll County, Ga.
In the Champions Match, the Gold Medal went to Ellie Pickin of the Rockingham Rockin’ Shots from Virginia, with a score of 481-18 (the second number indicates how many bullseyes the competitor hit.) With the Silver was Stazy Sass from the Pierre Jr. Shooters team from South Dakota, and the Bronze medal went to Clara Iverson of the Roberts County team, also from South Dakota.
In the Alternate Match, the Gold Medal went to Ella Iverson of Roberts County, with a score of 480-20. Silver went to Kendall Anderson of Humboldt, and the Bronze Medal went to Derek Manzow of the Tift Red team out of Tiffton, Ga.
While the Daisy Nationals is a team event, individual team members are also recognized with medals. With a score of 492-21, the Gold Medal for Individual High Aggregate went to Taylor Slayder of the Yellowstone Young Guns. Silver was claimed by Carly Stover of Penns Valley, and the Bronze Medal went to Clayton Weber of the Aces Youth Shooting Sports out of Madison, S.D.
In the main event, the Yellowstone Young Guns took home the Bronze Medal with a score of 2366-71. This team from Laurel, Mont., is coached by Matthew Slyder, and team members are: Taylor Slyder, Bridget Thomas, Sophia Schellig, Kash Werning and Zoey Kogelmann.
The Roberts County team from Rosholt, S.D., scored 2,378-81 to take the Silver Medal in the 2024 Daisy Nationals. Roberts County is coached by Heidi Pelzel, and team members are: Micah Pelzel, Riley Spatz, Izabell Ceroll, Kammi Pelzel and Grace Brandenburger.
And with the Gold Medal and the prestigious traveling National Champion trophy was the Humboldt Sharpshooters out of Hartford, S.D., with a score of 2,400-94. Humboldt is coached by Stuart Plucker, and team members are: Mausten Stelter, Elyk Swiden, Ema Dissing, Braylon Plucker and Sutton Plucker.