FORT BENNING, Georgia (June 12, 2018)
Medals were awarded in five events today at the USA Shooting National Championships for Rifle and Pistol, taking place at the home of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit in Fort Benning, Georgia.
On the line are National Championship titles, as well potential invitations to the National and National Junior Teams for medalists in the Olympic events. Medals were awarded in Women’s Air Rifle and Men’s Three-Position Rifle based on the cumulative score from two days of Qualification matches, as well as points earned based on finish in the Final.
In Women’s Air Rifle, Sarah Beard (Danville, Indiana) was back in top form, winning gold in the event. Beard joined the Army shortly after the 2016 World Cup Finals and has been off the competition circuit until recently, but she’s shown no signs of slowing, posting world-class scores on both days of competition (623.8 and 628.3). Taking the silver was last year’s National Champion Alison Weisz (Belgrade, Montana) and the bronze medal went to reigning Olympic gold medalist Ginny Thrasher (Springfield, Virginia).
On the Junior side, Angeline Henry (Fort Worth, Texas) won gold, Sarah Osborn (Hampton Virginia) won silver and relative newcomer Lauren McMahan (Sarasota, Florida), who just started shooting rifle two years ago, won the bronze medal.
Three-time Olympic medalist Matt Emmons (Browns Mills, New Jersey), who lives with his family in the Czech Republic, returned to the U.S. to compete at this year’s National Championships as a tune-up for the upcoming International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Championship later this summer in Changwon, South Korea. He won the event handily by 11 points over two days of competition. Not only did he shoot
