Sanderson Fifth in Rapid Fire Pistol, Shotgun Spring Selection Underway in Georgia
OutdoorHub 05.13.13
The ranges of Ft. Benning, Ga., and the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) were alive with the sound of firearm music Friday as the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup rolled into its fifth day and USA Shooting’s Spring Selection Match for Shotgun began.
Two-time Olympian Keith Sanderson (Colorado Springs, Colo.) highlighted the day for Team USA at the World Cup by earning a spot in the finals of the Rapid Fire Pistol event. Sanderson shook off the rust the only way he knew how after not picking up his pistol pretty much since the London 2012 Games ended in hopes of resting a forearm injury that until a week ago went undiagnosed. Excruciating pain in his forearm made gripping his pistol almost intolerable, but there he was back on the line this week seven days after undergoing minor surgery at the Mayo Clinic to try and alleviate his pain for the first time in a long while.
Sanderson would finish fifth after a shoot-off with China’s Fusheng Zhang. Tied 15 hits apiece, Sanderson and Zhang would duel through two 5-shot shoot-offs after they tied three shots each after the first shoot-out. Zhang would record five hits to Sanderson’s one hit to advance. Eventual winner was Germany’s Christian Reitz after missing just once in the last three strings. Ukraine shooter Roman Bondaruk would finish second followed by China’s Yuehong Li.
Emil Milev (Temple Terrace, Fla.) finished just out of the running for a finals spot, missing the finals by two points with a 379. Brad Balsley (Uniontown, Pa.) finished 17th with a 371.
Women’s Three-Position Rifle was also a featured event on day five of the ISSF World Cup. Amy Sowash (Richmond, Ky.) came close to a spot in the finals but missed by three points with a 579/600 to finish 14th overall. Seventeen-year-old Elizabeth Gratz (Sigel, Ill.) continues her World Cup education scoring a 565 and a 35th-place result in her first career World Cup.
The gold medal would be earned by Andrea Arsovic of Serbia with her last two shots of 10.6 and 10.8 helping her defeat China’s Liuxi Wu. Amelie Kleinmanns of Germany finished third.
For ISSF World Cup USA results, click here:
http://www.issf-sports.org/calendar/championship_schedule_by_discipline.ashx?cshipid=1443
2013 Spring Selection Update
USA Shooting’s Spring Selection Match for Shotgun began today with 66 skeet shooters taking part in competition that will select the team for the 2013 World Clay Target Championships and the year’s final two World Cups in Cyprus and Granada, Spain.
The men’s leaderboard showcases a familiar name in two-time Olympic gold medalist Vincent Hancock (Eatonton, Ga.). Hancock reeled off the only perfect score on the day with 100-straight fallen targets. Despite day one perfection, he was unable to put any real distance on the field as 19-year-old TJ Bayer (College Station, Texas) held his own against the talented field with a 99/100. Bayer was a third-place finisher at Fall Selection as well. Other notables were Jon Michael McGrath (Tulsa, Okla.) with a 97; Mark Weeks (Clinton Township, Mich.) and Dustin Perry (Lovelady, Texas), 96; and 2012 Olympian Frank Thompson (Alliance, Neb.), 95.
Brandy Drozd (Bryan, Texas) has opened up a three-target lead on three competitors after dropping just two targets on the day. Trailing Drozd is 2012 National Champion Jaiden Grinnell (Port Angeles, Wash.), 2012 National Championships bronze medalist Amber English (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and 2012 Spring Selection winner Morgan Craft (Muncy Valley, Pa.). Fall Selection champ Haley Dunn (Muenster, Texas) is four off the pace set by Drozd while multi-time Nationals medalist Caitlin Connor (Winnfield, La.) struggled with 10 lost targets.
For complete Spring Selection results, click here: http://www.usashooting.org/library/Competitions/2013_SG_SS/2013_SG_SS_Scores_D1.xls
Up Next . . .
Saturday’s World Cup events includes qualifying action in Men’s Prone Rifle with USAMU sharp shooters Michael McPhail (Darlington, Wis.) and Eric Uptagrafft (Phenix City, Ala.) set to compete for the first time. McPhail is off to a great 2013 after winning a silver medal in the year’s first World Cup in Changwon, Korea.
The Women’s 25m Pistol competition will also take place featuring three U.S. Olympians in Sandra Uptagrafft (Phenix City, Ala.), Brenda Silva (Snowflake, Ariz.) and Elizabeth Callahan (Columbia, S.C.) as well as the World Cup debut of promising junior shooter Starlin Shi (Potomac, Mich.).
