All is Wells while Starlin Repeats to Conclude Pistol Competition at 2013 NJOSC
OutdoorHub 04.07.13
On a busy Saturday of competitive shooting action for USA Shooting, we bring you recaps from the following:
- Friday’s (April 5) Men’s Sport Pistol Recap from the NJOSC in Colorado Springs, Colo.
- Saturday’s (April 6) Women’s Sport Pistol Recap from the NJOSC in Colorado Springs, Colo.
- Men’s Prone Rifle Recap from the ISSF World Cup in Changwon, Korea
NJOSC Men’s Sport Pistol Recap
Disappointment followed Robert Wells (Pontotoc, Miss.) for all of 24 hours before he erased a sub-par performance in Men’s 10m Air Pistol with a great showing Friday in the Men’s Sport Pistol Final of the 2013 National Junior Olympic Shooting Championships (NJOSC) in Colorado Springs, Colo.
A disciple of USA Shooting’s Progressive-Position Pistol (PPP) Championships where he finished second last year and 4-H National Champion in 2011, Wells excelled in the event final with a 203.8 and earned a National Team jacket in his first and only trip to NJOSC. His finals score was 5.9 points better than any of the other seven finalists which featured National Junior Team members Tony Chung(Diamond Bar, Calif.) and Brian Kim(Los Angeles, Calif.). Chung, a 14-year-old competitor who finished second in 2012, would falter in the final only shooting a 186.0 to drop to third overall while Kim came into the final well back in seventh position, some 15 points off the top qualifying position. Kim would rally in the final to post the second-best score and move up to fifth. Qualifying leader Glenn Zimmerman (Waterville, Ohio) would finish second and will also earn a position on USA Shooting’s National Junior Team.
“I knew I was behind a point (going into the finals) and I knew the guy leading,” Wells said. “It’s my last year in juniors and everyone here is world-class shooters so I had to be on. The guys here are really good and I love being in the heat of competition.”
High J2 (15-17 year-olds) finisher was Anthony McCollum (Purdin, Mo.), who finished seventh overall, while 13-year-old Logan Spencer (Palmer, Alaska) earned top scores in the J3 (14-under) category.
Men’s 25m Sport Pistol NJOSC Finalists
Name (Hometown) Finals Overall
- Robert Wells (Pontotoc, Miss.) 203.8 759.8
- Glenn Zimmerman (Waterville, Ohio) 194.7 751.7
- Tony Chung (Diamond Bar, Calif.) 186.0 742.0
- Andrew Weese (Kaysville, Utah) 196.3 741.3
- Brian Kim (Los Angeles, Calif.) 197.9 739.9
- Caleb Paterson (Kansas City, Kan.) 191.3 735.3
- Anthony McCollum (Purdin, Mo.) 191.9 730.9
- Kevin Chen (Belmont, Mass.) 181.5 726.5
NJOSC Women’s Sport Pistol Recap
It wasn’t the landslide victory she enjoyed last year, but National Junior Team member Starlin Shi (Potomac, Md.) still handily defeated her opposition to capture a second straight NJOSC title in Women’s Sport Pistol and conclude the week-long pistol event in Colorado Springs. Last year, she defeated Taylor Gallegos(Prosper, Texas) by 28.3 points, but this year it was 12.3 point victory over Cindy Chung (Diamond Bar, Calif.). Chung was the fourth-place finisher a year ago but showed a 13.2 point improvement to finish second overall after shooting the highest final of all eight participants.
The Women’s Sport Pistol final featured six of the eight finalists from the Women’s Air Pistol event with Shi and Erin Coscia (Zionsville, Ind.) finding their way into Saturday’s finals. Gallegos would earn the bronze medal. Women’s Air Pistol gold medalist Alana Townsend (Kalispell, Mont.) would finish eighth while air pistol runner-up Lydia Paterson (Kansas City, Kan.)placed fifth.
Women’s Rifle competition begins Tuesday (April 9) in Colorado Springs as the 17-day NJOSC competition moves on to its second of three weeks.
Women’s Rifle (April 9-12)
- April 9-10 – Air
- April 11-12 – Smallbore (.22 caliber)
Men’s Rifle (April 15-19)
- April 15-16 – Air
- April 17-19 – Smallbore (.22 caliber)
More information can also be found on the USA Shooting website by clicking on the ‘National Junior Olympic Program’ link located under the ‘Events’ tab. Follow along also using the Twitter Hashtag #NJOSC or via the USA Shooting’sFacebook page. For scores, please visit USA Shooting’s match results page following each competition.
Women’s 25m Sport Pistol NJOSC Finalists
Name (Hometown) Finals Overall
- Starlin Shi (Potomac, Md.) 192.7 754.7
- Cindy Chung (Diamond Bar, Calif.) 194.4 742.4
- Taylor Gallegos (Prosper, Texas) 189.2 733.2
- Alexis Lagan (Boulder City, Nev.) 190.4 729.4
- Lydia Paterson (Kansas City, Kan.) 182.5 728.5
- Darian Shenk (Anneville, Pa.) 175.0 721.0
- Erin Coscia (Zionsville, Ind.) 177.0 712.0
- Alana Townsend (Kalispell, Mont.) 172.8 711.8
ISSF World Cup Changwon Men’s Prone Rifle Recap
Though not stout on numbers, the U.S. Men’s Rifle team featuring three U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) stalwarts showed their clout with all finishing inside the top-15 of an all-star field of marksmen in the Men’s 50m Prone Rifle event at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup in Changwon, Korea.
New finals structure or not, Michael McPhail (Darlington, Wis.) has proven once again he’s a dominant force in the sport after earning a silver medal Saturday despite less than ideal weather conditions. McPhail hasn’t finished outside the top-5 in any of the three previous World Cups he’s competed in.
Having not fared well in his only previous new final opportunity at the 2013 Rocky Mountain Championships in Colorado Springs, McPhail seems to be coming to grips with the new format change that brings a zero-start final to the table, eliminating any qualifying score. But after qualifying with the fourth best score and moving into the gold-medal shootout, he might not be able to wait to get another chance at a final shot he’ll be questioning for a while.
Kentucky Rifle standout Henri Junghanel of Germany secured the gold medal backing up his stellar NCAA season.
The new final match starts off with two series of three shots. Then, the final proceed with single shots. Starting from the eighth shot, and then after every two shots, the athlete with the lowest score is eliminated, until the medals are decided. The Final match ends up with two shooters on the line, dueling for gold on the last two shots.
In the final, Junghanel scored 209.6 points out of 20 shots, with a great average higher than 10.4 points per shot. Shooting a 10.7 and a 10.3 in the last series, he outscored McPhail who shot a 10.7 and a 9.8.
“I don’t know where that 9.8 came from!” McPhail said, right after the match.
McPhail shot 39 bulls eyes over the course of 60 shots in London only to still be on the outside looking in after tying with nine other competitors for the five spots in the Olympic final. With a five-shot shoot-off to determine the other five finalists, McPhail thought he was in great shape averaging a 10.26 throughout and never straying outside the 10-ring on any of the five shots. But his finals dream would be undone by three-tenths of a point, mere fractions of an inch.
Two-time Olympian Eric Uptagraff (Phenix City, Ala.) finished ninth, just .5 points out of the hunt for finals. Jason Parker (Omaha, Neb.), whose specialty is the Men’s Three-Position Rifle event he’ll shoot on Tuesday, finished 15th
Qualification results can be found clicking on the following link: http://bit.ly/12vMKDm
Final results: http://bit.ly/16CMjti
USA Shooting’s World Cup season is off to a great start as the Team earned three medals in the first World Cup of the season in Acapulco. The shotgun-only event featured 13 U.S. athletes with nine earning finishes inside the top-10. Two-time Olympic gold medalistVincent Hancock (skeet/Eatonton, Ga.), Brian Burrows (trap/Fallbrook, Calif.) and Ian Rupert (double trap/Muncy, Pa.) earned gold, silver and bronze medals for the U.S. squad.
