It has been a highlight filled season for 15-year old Yukon air pistol shooter Danielle Marcotte.

The list of accomplishments for the Pelly Crossing resident include competing in four world cups, finishing first in her sub junior age class at the Canadian Air Gun Grand Prix and becoming the first junior to compete on the Canadian National Shooting Team.

This past week, Marcotte continued her remarkable year by placing second at the Canadian National Pistol Championships in the 10-metre air pistol category.

"I think it is really remarkable," said Jim Sias, president of the Yukon Shooting Federation. "It's a pretty awesome accomplishment to win it last year and to go to the shoot off and finish second (this year). She should be very proud."

Air gun competitions are all shot at a fixed distance of 10-m and athletes have choice of shooting with either an air rifle or an air pistol.

Participants have a set amount of time to fire all of their rounds and have to change targets after every shot. Each competitor shoots twice over the course of two days and their final score is tallied up to determine who qualifies for the shoot off.

The targets are round rings, numbered one to 10. One is the largest, while 10, being the smallest is worth the most points. The size of the 10 ring in an air pistol target would be smaller than a dime.

The World Cup circuit began in March in Rio de Genaro, Brazil. At the competition in Rio de Genaro, Marcotte finished in 19th place.

In April, she travelled to Beijing for the second event in the world cup circuit. The circuit concluded in May at two back-to-back competitions, starting in Munich, Germany and finishing with a competition in Milan, Italy.

After the conclusion of the four world cup events, she ended up in 25th place and is presently ranked 45th in the world at the senior level.

Marcotte had to shoot a 40 shot course on each day of competition at the nationals.

Marcotte competed in the sub junior age class at this year's nationals. On her first day of competition Marcotte shot a 365 out of 400, which was down from her average of being in 370's.

Marcotte followed up her 365 by shooting a 362 for the second day of competition.

Day two saw her lowest individual shot score at the competition, which was a six. Marcotte wouldn't be fazed by the lower than normal score and would go on to hit the 10 on her next three shots.

Her two scores qualified her for the competition's shoot off. The shoot off was open to the top eight point totals in the sub-junior, junior, international junior and women's junior categories.

Marcotte's score of 727 placed her in second among the eight participants in the shoot off. She was only three points behind the first place shooter, who was from Saskatchewan.

In the 10-shot shoot off, Marcotte came within one point from tying for first, but that was as close as she got.

She ended up being five points off from first place at the conclusion of the shoot off.

Her final score in the shoot off scored was 93.7.

As a result of her strong finish at this year's nationals, Marcotte is potentially eligible to compete for Canada at the Commonwealth Games. The 2008 Commonwealth Games will be held in Pune, India in October.

Marcotte said she was pleased with how she did at the nationals and hopes to compete at the 2008 Commonwealth Games.

She said she really improved as a shooter by travelling to all of the world cup competitions.

"I got to see shooters from all around the world and just compete against them," she said.

Despite shooting as well as she did on the world cup circuit, Marcotte said she doesn't have a highlight for the season.

"I just liked everything about it all and having the opportunity to travel and just do something I love," she said. "It was really cool."