Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2010

She's at home on the range

Barbara Mandrell, Sarah Palin, Whoopi Goldberg and Madonna all share something with Megan Lee - an appreciation for firearms and shooting sports.

But Lee, 16, of Fuquay-Varina, has one thing that sets her apart from the celebrity shooters: a national championship.

A junior at Middle Creek High, Lee traveled with her mother, Karen, to the NRA Outdoor National Rifle & Pistol Championships at Camp Perry in Ohio in July.

Camp Perry is to shooting as Augusta National is to golf, but Lee brought home more than a green jacket. She won enough medals to decorate a team of shooters.

Although she has only been shooting competitively for four years, she finished third overall out of a field of 296 shooters that included adults and military personnel.

During the two-day event, shooters shot from prone, kneeling and standing positions, firing 120 shots for record. Primarily an indoor shooter, Lee had to adjust to Ohio's gusty winds and shimmering heat mirages throughout the outdoor event.

Still, she amassed a remarkable record: first in the Sharpshooter classification, first in the Intermediate Junior category, second in Woman/Any Sight (iron sights or telescopic sights), second place in Woman Overall (all ages), and second place in Civilian Overall (all ages). To top it off, she used only iron aperture sights and the naked eye the entire time, even when telescopic sights were allowed during some events.

Her success was much more than she had anticipated.

It's a family thing

In 17th place after day one, Lee thought that might be as high as she would go.

"I was happy, but I was ready for day two," she said.

The heat peaked in the low 90s, cooking the competitors in their thick canvas shooting coats, gloves and pants, and stiff, flat-soled shooting boots.

"It didn't bother me, but I saw a lot of people were drinking a lot of water," she said with a laugh.

Her mother sat behind the shooting line, taking pictures and observing Lee's target with a spotting scope.

When Lee wasn't shooting, she would walk behind the ready line and join her mother, peeling off her sweaty shooting garb, checking messages on her Blackberry and munching pizza, yogurt and Fruit Loops.

Megan Lee is a soft-spoken teen with an affinity for hanging with friends and shopping, and an iPod with "country, pop and some classical."

Karen Lee said competitive shooting is like any other sport. "It's the same outcome, the desire to excel," she said, but there's more to it than typical youth sports.

"I watched her for seven years in gymnastics," she said. "With shooting, I've seen a level of dedication and discipline that's above other sports. Her focus is extraordinary compared to team sports with friends. She goes to the range, puts down her Blackberry, and picks up the gun. That's discipline for her."

Lee's older brothers, Jonathan and Bryan, helped feed her interest in shooting, if in an indirect way.

"My brothers would get hunting stuff for Christmas," she said. "One year, they got matching shotguns, and I said, 'Why can't I get one?'"

After she was given a semi-automatic .22 rifle, targets were never safe again.

At Camp Perry, Lee used a mechanically customizable Anschutz 2013 bolt-action, single-shot rifle.

Prepared for anything

Lee's coach, Kent Reeve, is a software training manager at SAS in Cary. He's also state champion in smallbore (.22 caliber) shooting and the 2006 National Long Range Champion.

He knows the attributes of a good shooter.

"You have to be able to see good, have a steady hold, and be mentally calm under stress," he said. "You don't have to be strong. It's probably more important to be in aerobic shape."

He said Lee's best attributes are that she's a good listener, she learns fast and she's not afraid to try new things.

She practices twice a week at the Wake County Firearms Education and Training Center in Apex. To get Lee acclimated to the wind dynamic of outdoor shooting, Reeve tied a piece of towel to Lee's shooting jacket so the range's air-exchange system would simulate wind that the towel would catch. Lee learned to time her shots between "gusts." Reeve said a strong crosswind could cause the tiny .22 bullet - smaller than a garden pea - to drift 2 to 3 inches in 50 yards, the distance Lee was shooting. At Camp Perry, crosswinds exceeded 20 miles per hour, but Lee was ready.

"When I heard she was in 17th after day one, I prayed for wind," Reeve said. "The wind is a huge differentiator."

More targets ahead

Lee said the second day of competition was hotter, with more wind than the first. As the competition was coming to an end with the standing position - hardest of the three because of potential body sway - Lee knew she was doing well. But she wasn't sure of the magnitude of her accomplishment against shooters several times her age and experience.

"I don't think I really understood how big it was right away," she said.

It sank in later at the awards ceremony, where she received five medals, two plaques, a presentation-grade flintlock pistol, a Walther air rifle and two Visa gift cards.

She credits Reeve and her mother for her success.

"The coach does a lot, but I would never have accomplished this without my mom," she said. "Every time I'm at the range, she's there with me because I'm not 18. I think she worked as hard for it as I did."

After high school, Lee plans to attend college out of state. That's still a ways off, but her list includes the University of Michigan, the University of Kentucky, the Air Force Academy and The Ohio State University. She plans to attend medical school one day, but for now enjoys being a teenager - and getting better at her sport.

"My friends understand that I won't be with them all the time because of shooting," she said. "But it's definitely worth it. I still have more progress to do."