By Wayne Witkowski
Dan Jonas of Allentown says he is on the cusp of All-American honors in the smallbore rifle as a member of the U.S. Naval Academy after finishing his junior year with a national ranking at 20th.
“I thought I did relatively well,” Jones said while taking a rare two-week break before heading off to assignments on a 40-foot sailing craft the first half of the summer to Rhode Island and then a Naval-commissioned powered vessel to an undetermined location on mainland United States for the second half of the summer.
“There were some mistakes and I could’ve done well but overall, I had a pretty good season. There were some moments; as a team we did not do well, finishing last in the [Great American Rifle Conference (GARC)].”
Jonas was named All-Conference honorable mention in smallbore, and teammate Jodi Cull-Host was named second team All-Conference in air rifle and eventually earned All-American accolades. They were the first two Midshipmen to earn all-conference honors in their third year in GARC after Navy competed for years in the Mid-Atlantic Rifle Conference.
Although Allentown High School does not have a rifle team, Jonas worked hard at developing his skills during those years in outside upper-level competition events.
Competing in a sport that runs for about seven months from the start of the school year through March, Jonas finished his 13-match regular season with an average of 578.3 points per competition. In five separate matches, Jonas recorded scores in the 580s, including career-high 586 marks against No. 1-ranked West Virginia University and the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.
Jonas also competed in the air rifle, where he averaged 584.9. Although his average is higher there, Jonas said he prefers the more challenging smallbore competition, which divides 60 shots fired at a smaller target than air rifle in 20-shot segments from standing, kneeling and prone (laying on the ground) position. Air rifle has all 60 shots fired from standing position.
“I want to emphasize for smallbore freestand and kneeling positions. That’s where the scores dipped,” Jonas said. “I did better in prone, shooting one or two points below 200 (the maximum).”
Jonas said he will compete in some “fun” events locally when he is on land this summer.
With two seniors graduating, including Cull-Host, Jonas will take more of a leadership role on the rifle team and beyond for his senior season. He will have first class rank, which is passed down after the current senior class graduates next weekend.
“I’ll be able to go after the plebes,” Jonas said with a laugh of the initiation rites taken on by students with first class rank.
He also will be executive officer on the rifle team, the No. 2 position behind captain. He said he has no reservations about Brandon Pippen, the only other senior, being named captain.
“I realize he’ll do as good a job as I could’ve done and maybe even better,” Jonas said. “The executive officer is the good cop/bad cop role that includes enforcing the discipline on the team, which I’ll like to do [also].”
Jonas said he’ll do his part to upgrade the team from its last-place finish in GARC during the 13-meet regular season. He said other teams in the conference, particularly West Virginia, have a number of Olympians on their rosters — both from the United States and other countries.
All-American status is based on the top three scores of the season, but they must be shot at three different ranges.
Despite going against top-level competition that has gotten progressively stronger in recent years, the Midshipmen did well in the GARC tournament in late-February at the University of Mississippi’s Patricia C. Lamar National Guard Readiness Center in Hattiesburg that included five teams ranked in the top 20 nationally. In the smallbore competition on the first day, the team shot a typical 2,283 but was last out of nine teams — just 18 points out of fourth place.
“Navy hasn’t done any better than this season; it’s just that the opponents were better,” Jonas said.
In smallbore, Jonas did his part with a team-best 577 score, putting him 17th out of 73 entrants. Cull-Host followed on the Midshipmen with a 571.
“I can’t complain with the effort that our team showed. Everyone came in and performed at a level that we would have predicted,” head coach Bill Kelley said after the smallbore event. “I was pleased with Jonas today, as he was in contention for a spot in the individual finals down to the end.”
In air rifle, Jonas again led the Midshipmen for the second straight day of championship action, shooting a 584 and ranking 27th out of 75 competitors. His two-day aggregate total of 1,161 finished 20th overall — just seven points out of the top 10.
Cull-Host shot a 580 and ranked 39th. It was below her 589.5 average during the 13-meet schedule.
Jonas and Kelley both said the range was challenging from the upscale ranges of the service academies to which they were accustomed.
“The range was difficult for a lot of the field today, as almost all of the teams were 10 or more points below average,” Kelley said afterward. “Overall, it was a decent performance, as we were in the thick of things and had moved up in the standings until the last relay.”
Jonas said his sights are set on even bigger and better things for next season for himself and his team, which he said is showing the makings for an even more competitive campaign.
