Emily Toro 

Grade: Senior 

The NJROTC Lone Star Company competed in Area-10 Air Rifle Championship on Dec. 14. Cadet Lieutenant Commander Emily Toro won first in state and is now able to compete for nationals on Feb 6th, 7th, 8th in Chandler Arizona.

What do you do in air rifle? Marksmanship is a competitive sport which we compete with air rifles and compete against other air rifle teams teams. 

How long have you been in air rifle? I have been competing in air rifle since I was 13 years old. 

Tell me about the state competition. First you shoot in a competition among people in your state called the “Secretary Nav,” and it makes you go against other schools. It takes all your team scores and individually. You’re ranked in that system we got first in state qualifiers because we got ranked first place. 

What were the steps to becoming first place in state? It took a lot of confidence, and it took my four years to success. It took a lot of team work because I didn’t get here on my own. I got here as a team. Being first isn’t an individual sport. I have been trained by others that have gotten first that competed in these types of competitions. 

What was your feeling on the way to competition? I was extremely nervous. I knew that everything was on my shoulders. The way I scored depended on the success of my unit and team lead not only on me but the other people around me which is hard for you to understand when you’re in that position. 

What’s a goal you set for yourself and how did you achieve that goal? A goal that I set for myself was to do the best that I could have done. It’s always a common thing to say when it comes to goals, but having something that’s basic and simple helps you focus on the more abstract and the more difficult things to think of during competition.  

What were some challenging parts about competing why were they challenging? Marksmanship is a hard sport. It’s a realization on how you are doing mentally so you have to focus on parts of your body that you can’t really control like your nerves in your legs so staying still, keeping a healthy mindset because you’re competing with others. One of the main challenges for me is to focus on my target instead of people around me and how they are doing.  

How did you feel when they called your name for winning state? I was extremely excited. I couldn’t hold it in. I almost screamed feeling everyone scream behind me in excitement showed that feeling for me. It was a great feeling to know that I didn’t put all my work in vain. 

What was your favorite part during the completion? Being able to talk and get to know other shooters from other schools that are in state which we don’t get to do a lot is a valuable thing to me because you get to learn more skills. I really liked this competition because you don’t get to see a lot of these faces at your regular competitions. 

What are run of the mill competitions? Those are postal which postal are competitions which you shoot in your own range so you compete at home and you send your scores through mailing system to whoever is hosting that competition.