Holloway, Wyoming team excel at national shooting competition

Recent Greybull High School graduate Jeremy Holloway tied for 12th place as an individual and his Wyoming team captured third place overall at the 4-H Shooting Sports National Championships held last week at the Heartland Public Shooting Park in Grand Island, Neb. 

Hosted by Nebraska 4-H. the weeklong event attracted 4-H youth from across the country who competed in compound archery, recurve archery, air rifle, air pistol, .22 rifle, .22 pistol, shotgun, muzzleloading, and hunting skills. 

It was Holloway’s second appearance at the national competition. Two years ago, he competed in archery (along with fellow BHC 4-Hers James Love and Weston Haley). This year, he went as a member of Wyoming’s muzzleloading team, where he was joined by shooters from Park, Goshen and Sheridan counties. 

Dan Holloway, the team’s head coach, said Jeremy, his son, qualified for the competition at last summer’s State Shoot. After graduating from GHS earlier this year, Jeremy moved almost immediately to Wisconsin to work with his cousin who does pipeline welding on gas lines. But he wanted to compete at nationals, so he flew back to Billings, Mont., and the Holloways, including his mother Sarah and sister Ellie, traveled to Grand Island together. 

Sixty-four individuals and 16 teams competed in the muzzleloading discipline. Holloway and his teammates improved as the event went on, placing seventh on day one, fourth on day two and second on day three. When their scores were averaged out, Wyoming trailed only Missouri and South Dakota in the final standings. 

Holloway placed second in the individual awards on day three, which saw competitors take aim at metal silhouettes 100 yards in the distance. With that late push, he shot up the standings and finished in a tie for 12th in the overall with shooters from Kentucky and Texas. Each of them finished with 47s for a score. The winner, a shooter from Kansas, won it with an 8. 

Holloway had the second-best score on his team, trailing only a shooter from Sheridan County. 

Dan Holloway said his team worked well together. “As the coach, I could not coach them, and parents couldn’t coach them on the shooting line, either,” he said. “So, it was up to the team members to help each other, like when there were problems with their guns. Muzzleloaders can be pretty finicky — especially for as humid as it was.”

While Jeremy’s days as a 4-H shooter are behind him, a young group of talented competitors from Big Horn County is emerging. Holloway said he and his wife are planning to take them to the State Shoot later this month.