Jaymi Collar and Heather Tillson have set awesome goals for themselves while competing for the national air rifle championship later this week at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.

“Our goals will be to have a great time and do the best that we can while enjoying the experience,” Collar said.

The two Skyhawk shooters are making plans to travel to Colorado Springs to compete in their first NCAA air championship set for March 10 and 11.

“We want to shoot to the best of our abilities, and if that means a national championship, then we’ve earned it,” said Collar, a junior from Blairsville, Ga. “However, we are keeping our heads on straight right now.”

Tillson, a freshman from Galway, N.Y., almost echoes Collar’s sentiments. “I’m excited about going because I have never been there before,” Tillson said. “I’m going for the experience. I am not going with expectations of winning.”

Collar and Tillson are two of the three individual air rifle qualifiers selected to compete for the national championship. The other individual qualifier is Samantha Leach from the University of Mississippi.

Collar and Tillson qualified for the NCAA championship by shooting identical 589s in the NRA sectional at Murray State University. Because the two shot identical scores, a tiebreaker was needed. Tillson had a 98 on the tiebreaker target, while Collar shot a 97 on the target.

For both shooters the qualifying score was their career best. “Our scores were very competitive,” Collar said.

Shooters shoot 10 shots each on six targets. A perfect score is 600. The targets, a little bigger than a silver dollar, are 10 meters away. “It is neat that we are both going,” Collar said. “I am glad we each have the other to share this honor with.”

Collar and Tillson are the first Skyhawks to participate in the NCAA championship since 2003-04 when Jennie Fladebo earned a berth in the NCAA.

Both Collar and Tillson will spend the next few days taking midterms and practicing.

“We took a week off after the OVC championship and now we are shooting smaller practices (two to four targets),” Tillson said. “So much of this sport is mental you can sit at home and visualize things,” Collar said.

If Collar and Tillson achieve their goals they will return to Martin with a national title and plenty of great memories from their first trip to the NCAA championship finals