2015 National Championships for Rifl e & Pistol
Facing page - Top left: Charles Platt, Top right: Men’s Prone Rifl e medalists, Bottom left: Virginia Thrasher, Bottom middle: Amy Sowash hugs Virginia Thrasher, Bottom right: National Championships gold medal. This page - Top left: Alex Chichkov, Top right: Shawn Wells, Bottom left: James Henderson, Bottom right: Air Rifl e gold medalists Sarah Beard and Dempster Christenson.
2004 to highlight the fi fth day of the USA Shooting National Championships. Sanderson defeated Emil Milev (Temple Terrace, Florida) by seven total points over the two-day event. U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit’s (USAMU) Brad Balsley (Uniontown, Pennsylvania) was third overall. Sanderson earned the
Olympic quota for USA Shoot- ing in Munich, Germany earli- er this year with a silver-medal fi nish. Sanderson’s medal haul at Nationals would be signifi cantly higher had he not sat out three straight events from 2009-2011. He’s never fi nished lower than second
in any of the eight champion- ships he’s competed in. Beard (Danville, Indiana)
left her mark on the 2015 USA Shooting National Cham- pionships, something that’s more routine than not these days. Her run in Three-Position Rifl e cemented another great Nationals performance where she also claimed a national title in Air Rifl e and fi nished runner-up in Prone. Three new medals added to a fi ve-year medal haul in Fort Benning, Georgia, that now includes 15 since 2011, including seven national titles. This year’s run included victories in all four fi - nals she competed in, adding
to her tremendous week. “I’m very happy about how
Nationals went,” Beard said. “Of course, a third gold medal would have been even more awesome, but I’ve been train- ing Air Rifl e and 3P quite a bit, and it’s paid off. I’m also elated to have won all four Finals, I’m super thankful for all the positive coaching and encouragement I’ve received the past few months, and it’s defi nitely showing.” The 18-year-old Thrasher
put her stamp on these Championships as well with a fi ve-medal performance including a gold-medal in the Junior Three-Position
rifl e event. Bound for West Virginia University, Thrasher earned two open medals and three junior medals including another national title in Air Rifl e. Her performance also earned her National Team sta- tus for USA Shooting. It could have been more as she was just two points out of earning the bronze medal in the open class for Three-Position. Overshadowing it all was
Saabye, a girl just three years into the sport and getting set to enter the eighth grade. Given the longevity of the
athletes in this sport and the payoffs that come with experi- ence, shooting is a sport hard
September 2015 | USA Shooting News 29
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