Senior, Lockbourne, Ohio, Social and Behavioral Sciences
2007(Junior Season) Ohio State Scholar-Athlete. Academic All Big Ten. Ohio Union Activities Board Member. Trained members of the U.S. Army's 82 nd Airborne in long range shooting at the request of the Army Marksmanship Training Unit. Season -highs 556 in smallbore rifle, 559 in air rifle and 1,105 in two gun aggregate at the NCAA Qualifier.
2006 (Sophomore Season) Academic all big Ten ... an Ohio State Scholar Athlete...Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association - Academic All- American ... season-highs of 563 in smallbore at Akron, 567 in air rifle at the Murray State-Roger Withrow Invitational and 1,126 (562 smallbore, 564 air) aggregate at Morehead State.
2005 (Freshman Season) Ohio State Scholar-Athlete ... shot a season high of 535 in smallbore at West Virginia ... posted a season-high 548 in air rifle against Morehead State and Xavier... aggregate season-high of 1,074 (526 smallbore, 548 air rifle against Morehead State.
Shooting Experience Competed on the Ohio Rifle and Pistol Association's Junior High Power Team at age 14... qualified for the United States Young Eagles (Under 25 year old team) at the 2002 Long Range Championship at Camp Perry, Ohio... competed at the 2003 World Championships, Manchester England winning silver medals ... won the 2004 Ohio Long Range Service Rifle Championship ... won the High Junior in the John C. Garand match award and the Farr Trophy Match. Competed in the 2007 World Long Range Rifle Championships in Ottawa Canada earning a silver medal.
Teays Valley high School Played two years of baseball and ran cross-country for four years.
Personal Born Jan. 1986 ... full name is Samuel David Ohlinger ... son of Michael and Rebecca Ohlinger ... enjoys paintball, baseball and hunting ... wants to attend law school... greatest sports thrill was winning the Silver Medal at the 2007 World Long Range Championships in Ottawa, Canada as a member of the USA Young Eagles.
January 12, 2006
Ohio State student-athlete Sam Ohlinger assisting with the Marksman Training Program for the Army's 82nd Airborne
Jan. 12, 2006 COLUMBUS, Ohio - Recently, Ohio State student Sam Ohlinger (So., Lockbourne, Ohio) had a unique opportunity to serve his country at Fort Benning, Georgia. Over winter break, from December 12th-16th, Sam worked in cooperation with the Army Marksmanship Unit (AMU) to teach advanced marksmanship principles to select army personnel as part of an initiative called the Squad Designated Marksman program (SDM). The SDM program is the brainchild of the Army Marksmanship Unit's commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel David Liwanag. The goal of the program is to increase marksmanship proficiency throughout the Army by eventually having a squad designated marksman, meaning someone with this advanced training, in every squad of the Army.
With the scope of the project being so vast, the AMU quickly realized that it was understaffed. This being the case, they petitioned the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) for help with the program. The CMP organizes the National Matches every year at Camp Perry, Ohio. Since the National Matches were initiated by President Teddy Roosevelt as a way to improve civilian preparedness in case of military crisis, the CMP found this to be an excellent opportunity to fulfill its primary purpose. The CMP alerted competitors of the army's dilemma and invited about 50 highly qualified and accomplished civilian shooters to a training program in June, 2005. From this group, the AMU then selected a little over half of these men to become military rifle instructors.
Sam Ohlinger, at 19, was by far the youngest shooter to apply and be granted this honor. He is the only college student, with most of the new instructors being middle-aged and possessing many more years of experience. Sam is in his second year as a member of the OSU Varsity Rifle Team, but has competed in the military style shooting, called high-power service rifle competition, for the last six years, winning various awards and small honors, including representing America in Bisley, England, as part of a national under 25 year old team in the summer of 2003, and winning a national trophy for being the best civilian service rifle shooter from the state of Ohio at the 2005 National Matches
While in Georgia, he worked directly with members of the army's 82nd Airborne, the most frequently deployed unit in the army. These men had been selected for this advanced training by their expert scores on the army marksmanship qualification course. Sam and the other instructors worked on the principles of sight alignment, sight picture, and trigger control as well as introducing the use of the sling supported position and advanced workings of iron sights. Finally, they worked with the soldiers using scopes and bipods, by this time teaching them to make shots at a range of 600 yards, doubling these soldiers effective range in the field from the standard army training that does not exceed 300 yards. All the soldiers were very enthusiastic about the program and appreciative of the time and effort put in by the AMU and the civilian volunteers. Sam is honored and privileged to be a part of this vast initiative with such important implications for improving our soldier's effectiveness and safety in the field.
Comments or additional information can be sent to club@osurifle.org