While thousands of Kansas young people have gotten their start in the shooting sports through the financial support of the KSRA Foundation for youth and women’s shooting programs, it’s especially exciting when one of those young people goes on to compete nationally or internationally.
As a kid, Megan Hilbish of Emporia shot with her local 4-H shooting sports team and was coached and mentored by a dedicated group of air rifle and smallbore instructors in the area. She went on to compete in other disciplines and became an accomplished highpower competitor.
Recently, Megan has appeared on multiple media outlets to share information about the shooting sports and her own path to the international stage. Few Kansans today are more actively involved in promoting the shooting sports to the general public.
In June, Megan competed at the USA Shooting National Championships held in Minnesota. She took 1st place in the 300 Meter Rifle Women’s Prone and Free Rifle in 3-positions (prone, standing, and kneeling). She placed 2nd out of all men and women in Standard Rifle in 3-positions, behind US Army Marksmanship Unit shooter Tim Sherry who earned the bronze medal in this event at the 2022 World Championships.
With these incredible achievements, Megan was on her way to compete in all three events in the World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan in August.
This past week, Megan completed her first ISSF World Championships, making history as the first woman ever to represent Team USA in Standard Rifle at an international match. The Team USA 300m women’s prone and Free Rifle 3-positions team placed 5th in the World and Megan individually placed 19th in the World on the last day of competition.
The KSRA Foundation is so proud to have been part of such an incredible story by financially supporting the youth shooting sports Megan was involved in as a kid, helping make it possible for her to compete in sanctioned matches as a young person, and helping her along the road to the World Championships this year. Congratulations to Megan Hilbish for making history!