USA -(Ammoland.com)- Fittingly enough, the first measurable snowfall of the year fell upon Colorado Springs Friday to help greet competitors on the first match day of the 2016 Winter Airgun Championships.
The action taken place on four different indoor ranges at the U.S. Olympic Training Center helped heat things up though.
It was a Colorado junior uprising that captured everyone’s attention on day one as the National Training Center (NTC) Juniors athletes earned four of the top-five places in the Women’s Open Air Rifle event including a medal sweep.
Leading the way on her home range was 17-year-old Macey Way who earned gold behind an impressive qualifying score of 416.9 and then backing that up with a Final in which she won by 3.4 points.
Second was NTC newcomer Ruby Gomes followed by Emily Stith in third. University of Alaska Fairbanks junior Sagen Maddalena (Groveland, California) was fourth while NTC athlete Hailee Sigmon was fifth.
In the junior division of Women’s Air Rifle, Texas Christian University junior Mindy Miles (Weatherford, Texas) earned the hard-fought victory over West Virginia University junior Elizabeth Gratz (Sigel, Illinois). Way came back in the Junior Final to finish third as well.
2016 Olympian Dan Lowe (U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit/Olympia, Washington) won the Men’s Air Rifle match today with a commanding win in the Final. Murray State junior Ivan Roe (Manhattan, Montana) finished in second place and Lowe’s Olympic teammate and North Carolina State senior Lucas Kozeniesky (Fairfax, Virginia) led during Qualification with a score of 625.7, but finished in third place.
The Men’s Junior Air Rifle title was decided on the last shot of the Final. Air Force Academy sophomore Spencer Cap (Cranbury, New Jersey) led throughout the Final. With one shot remaining, Cap led by .1 point. On the Final shot, Cap’s 9.1 opened the door for Robert Broadstreet (Ozark, Missouri) to take the day one title. Mark Amdahl (Albuquerque, New Mexico) finished in third place.
U.S. Army Marksmanship pistol power James Henderson (Midland, Georgia) earned the victory in Men’s Air Pistol. He overcame a sixth-best qualifying score of 566 to beat the seven other finalists. Henderson was able to gain a slight edge over 2016 Olympian Jay Shi (Phoenix, Arizona) during shots 17-20 of the 24-shot final, outscoring Shi by 3.1 over those four shots to eventually nab a .8 point victory.
Shi’s Olympic teammate Will Brown (Twin Falls, Idaho) finished third. Nick Mowrer (Butte, Montana) shot a 578 to lead qualification but had to settle for sixth.
NTC Junior athlete Charles Platt (Colorado Springs, Colorado) earned high qualification honors with a 559 and then dominated the Final by 3.8 points to earn Friday’s match victory in Men’s Junior Air Pistol. Anthony McCollum (Purdin, Missouri) finished second followed by Justin Ahn (Diamond Bar, California).
The winner of today’s Women’s Air Pistol competition was Nathalia Tobar (East Northport, New York). She edged out reigning National Champion Alexis Lagan (Las Vegas, Nevada) for today’s title by 1.3 points. Susan Brown (Twin Falls, Idaho) finished in third place.
Helen Oh (Walnut, California) won the Women’s Junior Air Pistol Final by a dominating 5.7 points. Sarah Choe (Los Angeles, California) led Qualification with a score of 375, but finished in second place. Maria Tsarik (Palatine, Illinois) finished in third place.
Competition resumes Saturday with another full match day.
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