RIGHT ON TARGET

Shooting champion takes aim at worlds, scholarship

By David Witte / Independent Staff Writer Friday, Mar. 28, 2008

Cole Rommel has a gun in his hand all year long. If he's not hunting deer or duck, he's out winning national awards for sporting clays.

The 17-year-old Buchanan senior, along with teammates Talia Borg of Salinas and Brian Foley of Bakersfield, won the Scholastic Clay Target Program's skeet-shooting championships July 14 and 15 in San Antonio.

Under the team name Ink Ballers, the three shooters hit 589 out of 600 targets to win the tournament's varsity division for the second year in a row. Runner-up Brooks Elite Varsity, from Rochester, N.Y., placed second with a mark of 586.

The Ink Ballers were the second team to win back-to-back titles in the history of the SCTP.

"It's a lot of fun," Rommel said. "We meet a lot of new kids and make some new friends while we're [in San Antonio]. It's just a big fun environment."

Using his Beretta 3901 semi-automatic 12-gauge shotgun, Rommel hit 196 of his 200 targets. Borg also hit 196, and Foley hit 197. Individually, Foley's 197 was good enough for second place, while Rommel and Borg tied for fifth.

"Consistency is the main key in our game," Rommel said. "I just work at it constantly. Every weekend I'm out at Fresno Trap and Skeet." The only other skeet-shooting venue in the area is Coarsegold's Sun Mountain.

Rommel competes in at least 10 shooting events annually, and spends much of the rest of his time hunting.

"I'm the only registered junior [skeet] shooter in Fresno," Rommel said. "But I have friends at school that I hunt with."

Talia Borg's dad, Mike Borg, was the one who developed the California branch of the SCTP, and also put the Ink Ballers together.

"It's like a little family," Talia Borg said. "Like having a couple of brothers."

Rommel, Borg and Foley each earned $1,000 scholarships for their San Antonio repeat.

The SCTP is for shooters in grades four through 12, so Rommel has a year of eligibility remaining to take aim at a third straight national crown and possibly earn a college scholarship. If the Ink Ballers continue to dominate next year, it will be without Borg, who will join the collegiate ranks.

Borg is heading to Lyndenwood University in Missouri, which has won four straight national collegiate shooting championships.

"Talia Borg, she got accepted to a college on a scholarship," Rommel said. "It's in Missouri, and that's probably where I'm going to go."

Rommel's focus is skeet shooting, which is shooting at two targets traveling across the field in opposite directions. SCTP competition also included a sporting clays competition, which involves clay pigeons shot from various locations and at various speeds and angles.

After earning a black belt in Shodokan karate when he was 10, spending a year on Buchanan's swim team as a diver, and playing baseball, Rommel settled on shooting. His eventual goal is to shoot professionally for Kolar Arms, which manufactures sporting guns, or to have a hunting show on the Outdoor Life Network.

"We're just trying to push that guns can be a positive thing," said Shawn Rommel, Cole's father and coach of the Ink Ballers, which has been together the last two years. "There's always the negative that a lot of people think of, but there's chances for kids to be responsible and better themselves through it."

If shooting professionally doesn't work out, Rommel would like to pursue a career as a large-animal veterinarian.

Game On is an occasional series profiling local recreational sports and activities. Suggestions are welcome and may be e-mailed to David Witte at dwitte@clovisindependent.com.