When it comes to target shooting, anything you can do, Natalie Welter can do it better.
Welter qualified for the both the Women’s Junior Olympic Air Rifle and 3×20 Smallbore Rifle U15 championships to be held in Colorado Springs, Co. beginning April 8.
Natalie qualified for the Junior Olympics U15 national championships with a first place finish in the U15 air rifle and a second place finish in the U15 smallbore at the Pennsylvania State USA Shooting Junior Olympic Smallbore and Air Rifle championships held at the DuBois Rifle and Pistol Club Feb. 4.
Natalie is a 13-year-old seventh grade student at Allegheny-Clarion Valley and lives in Parker with her parents Tim and Dayna Welter and younger sisters Leslie (10) and Kaitlyn (7)
Natalie’s parents own both Welter’s Market and the Holy Sundae restaurant and ice cream parlor. Both establishments are located in Parker.
There isn’t much free time in Natalie’s schedule as she spends four nights a week honing her shooting skills at either the Butler target range or does some air rifle target practice at home in her parents’ garage.
Natalie takes part in competitions in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.
In December, Natalie won a silver medal at the USA Shooting Winter Air Gun championship in the U15 category. In the competition, Welter had to shoot 60 shots off-hand each day.
For right now, Natalie is just focused on using her shooting prowess on targets as she hasn’t taken the Pennsylvania hunter safety course to become a licensed hunter. However, she was planning on taking the course at the time of this writing.
Natalie began target shooting the smallbore rifle in December of 2021 and took part in her first competition in April of 2022.
When asked if the Natalie’s two younger siblings took an interest in target shooting, Tim explained he didn’t think the younger girls were ready to take up shooting just yet because the rifles were too heavy for the younger girls to use effectively and they could get discouraged easily.
The National Junior Olympic championships will be held in from April 7 through April 20 at the US Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.