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Lee golden in Colorado
Girl, 13, wins gold medal at Junior Olympics

Megan Lee displays her Junior Olympic gold medal in front of the Olympic Rings in Colorado Springs.

The unassuming 13-year-old didn't shoot a qualifying score locally for the Junior Olympics in small-bore shooting but accepted an invitation to compete last week in Colorado Springs.

She left Colorado with a gold medal after tallying two personal-best scores. Did she expect it?

"Surprised, yeah a little bit," she said in a soft voice. "There were a lot of people, and I'd never shot there."

Mother Karen Lee was little more emphatic.

"She rocks!" Karen Lee said. "It was a pretty cool experience. It was great to see the whole Junior Olympics experience."

Megan Lee said that before arriving she attended several clinics and had range orientation.

The competition covered two days with three "relays" (groups) at 9 a.m., noon, and 3 p.m. The shooters, 59 girls in all, shot 60 rounds (20 in each position, in prone, standing and kneeling positions) at 50-meter distances.

Lee scored 1,106 (554 and 552) out of a possible 1,200. That impressed Kent Reeve, a software trainer at SAS. Reeve, 50, of Cary, was the 2006 Long Range National Champion and runner-up in 2007 in big bore shooting. He described his relationship with Lee as "part coach, part mentor."

"I started working with her last autumn," he said. "I've mostly focused on mental training. Ninety percent of your shooting is right between your ears. She did exceed my expectations. I'm immensely proud of her. I know what it's like to go to a big event; no one does well their first time."

Lee was quick to point to Reeve for support, as well as others.

"Bob Hughes [a Sir Walter Gun Club youth coach] got me started in general small bore," she said. "When I didn't have any equipment he loaned me his. Edie Reynolds and Bill Reynolds helped too."

Lee said she wasn't really nervous in Colorado.

"No, it's an honor. I was there for the experience, to have fun," she said.

Lee will be a small bore instructor at a ladies-only shooting clinic this weekend for first-time shooters (the youngest instructor there), then go back to being a regular eighth-grader at Holly Ridge Middle School in Holly Springs, where her marching band mates celebrated with cake last week.

After winning a gold medal in Colorado, her favorite memories are bit surprising.

"The flight and the snow," she said. "It snowed an hour after we landed."


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