National Championships for Rifl e & Pistol 2015 USA Shooting
What do you get when you
combine veteran competitors with a band of rising junior shooters showcasing their grit, determination and resolve? Well, non-stop excitement for sure. Such was the case at the
2015 USA Shooting National Championships for Rifl e/Pistol contested June 25 – July 1 in Fort Benning, Georgia. Olym- pians Matt Emmons (Browns Mills, New Jersey) and Keith Sanderson (Colorado Springs, Colorado) were two of the athletes grabbing the head- lines during the week-long affair. Joining them was Sarah Beard (Danville, Indiana) with
another brilliant Nationals showing. Equally impressive were
the performances by two junior competitors in Virginia Thrasher (Springfi eld, Virginia) and Carson Saabye (Larkspur, Colorado). Emmons showcased his
readiness in pursuit of a fourth-straight Olympic medal with two big qualifying scores in Three-Position Rifl e that had the 50-meter range buzz- ing. On the fi rst of the two-day competition, he shot a score of 1186/1200 that broke the National Record and would have tied the World Record. The following day he again
28 USA Shooting News | September 2015
laid down big numbers and broke his previous day’s score by one. A dream about a change in
his kneeling position helped push him to success in the Three-Position event. “I’ve worked really hard on kneel- ing ever since Munich [World Cup] where it wasn’t working too well. I had a dream about what I needed to do and I woke up and said ‘that makes sense.’ So, I went and worked on it and it started feeling alright. I came here and it felt great and started posting the scores I’ve been wanting.” Emmons completed a
fantastic week of shooting by
claiming his second national title in Men’s Prone Rifl e after winning the Three-Position event in record fashion as well. Joining him on the Men’s Prone Rifl e podium was U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) athletes Michael McPhail (Darlington, Wis- consin) and Eric Uptagrafft (Phenix City, Alabama). At this rate, USA Shooting
will be renaming the National Championship trophy for Rap- id Fire Pistol in honor of Sand- erson. He simply has owned it for the last decade and 2015 was no different in Fort Benning, Georgia as he won his sixth national title since
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