USA Shooting Team Set to Compete at 2014 Bavarian Airgun Championships
OutdoorHub 01.22.14
A team of 21 USA Shooting Team athletes, highlighted by Pistol Olympians Nick Mowrer (Butte, Mont.) and Jason Turner (Rochester, N.Y.) are ready for competition at the 2014 Bavarian Airgun Championships in Munich, Germany. Competition begins Thursday, January 23 and concludes on Saturday, January 25.
Historically, the Bavarian Airgun Championships is one of the most strongly-contested events outside of the European World Cups. Competition features two days of matches with finals each day for juniors and open. Many countries use this competition for selection purposes for later events.
Athletes were chosen based on their performances at the recent Winter Airgun Championships that were contested at the USA Shooting Center in early December. They’ll compete alongside athletes from over 60 nations as the 2014 shooting competition season gets underway.
Mowrer, a 2012 Olympian in Free Pistol, was impressive in winning two of the three events contested at Winter Airgun to earn his spot while Turner, the 2008 Olympic bronze medalist in Air Pistol, earned a gold and silver medal during the event. Joining them will be Will Brown (Twin Falls, Idaho) and James Henderson (Midland, Ga.). Brown earned a World Cup gold medal in the event last season and was a two-time finalist at Bavarian to begin last year as well.
On the men’s junior pistol side, the other Brown family pistol shooter, Wyatt, picked up two of the three junior air pistol titles over the three days of Winter Airgun and will compete in Munich. Joining Wyatt on the junior side will be Alexander Chichkov (Temple Terrace, Fla.), Alana Townsend (Kalispell, Mont.) and Lydia Paterson (Kansas City, Kan.).
Teresa Meyer-Chambers (Dearborn, Mich.) and Courtney Anthony (Lexington, Neb.) will compete in women’s air pistol. Chambers was .9 points away from winning on three consecutive days of Winter Airgun, but fell just short with silver on the opening day.
In Air Rifle, five collegiate competitors are set to showcase the sport’s depth and future. Kentucky rifle shooter Connor Davis (Shelbyville, Ky.) is back in Munich. A gold medalist there in 2013, Davis used the victory to springboard himself to national prominence last year, eventually finishing fourth at the NCAA Rifle Championships, and earning Junior Olympic and National titles. Joining him will be U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit athlete George Norton (Ft. Benning, Ga.), West Virginia’s Jean-Pierre Lucas (Dunlevy, Pa.), as well as Olympic Training Center (OTC) Resident athletes Bryant Wallizer (Little Orleans, Md.) and Tom Csenge (Colorado Springs, Colo.). The other event qualifier, Alaska Rifle shooter Ryan Anderson (Wasilla, Alaska), withdrew from competition due to school commitments and his preparation for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT).
Courtesy of the five medals she won at Winter Airgun, Air Force Academy Rifle junior Meredith Carpentier (Waukegan, Ill.) will compete in Munich in Women’s Air Rifle in the junior division along with Texas Christian University’s Hannah Black (Richmond, Va.). She’ll be joined by OTC resident athletes Sarah Beard (Danville, Ind.) and Amy Sowash (Richland, Ky.). After taking a year off from competing to coach at her alma mater, Kentucky, last season, Sowash has returned better than ever after winning two of three events at Winter Airgun and then claiming a spot on the World Cup USA Team in smallbore (.22 caliber) as well.
Youth will also be on display with the presence of 15-year-old Elizabeth Marsh (Searcy, Ark.) and 17-year-old Elizabeth Gratz (Sigel, Ill.). Marsh solidified her potential with an outstanding weekend at Winter Airgun that included three silver medals, including one in the open division. Meanwhile, Gratz was a silver medalist at the event last year and her steady junior rifle performances got her recruited to shoot for West Virginia University beginning next season.
Results throughout the event should be posted here: https://www.bssb.de/
2014 Bavarian Airgun Championships – Rifle
Men -George Norton, Bryant Wallizer, Connor Davis, Tom Csenge
Women – Amy Sowash, Elizabeth Gratz, Sarah Beard
Juniors – Meredith Carpentier, Hannah Black, Jean-Pierre Lucas, Elizabeth Marsh
2014 Bavarian Airgun Championships – Pistol
Men – Will Brown, Nick Mowrer, Jason Turner, James Henderson
Women – Teresa Chambers, Courtney Anthony
Juniors – Wyatt Brown, Alexander Chichkov, Alana Townsend, Lydia Paterson
