Courtesy Photo | GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Soldiers from the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) competed...... read more read more
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Sgt. 1st Class Julius Clayton/Courtesy USA Shooting
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Soldiers from the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) competed at the 12th edition of the Championship of the Americas (CAT) in Guadalajara, Mexico from November 1 – 11 bringing home nine Gold Medals, to include a Silver and Bronze Medal, and two quotas to the 2020 Olympic Games, to be held in Tokyo, Japan.
Sgt. 1st Class George Norton, from Salina, Kansas, won one of those individual Gold Medals in the Men’s Three-Position Rifle event. Norton’s USAMU teammate, Sgt. Patrick Sunderman, a native of Farmington, Minnesota, won the Silver Medal. Their U.S. teammate, 2016 Olympian Lucas Kozeniesky, from Fairfax, Virginia, finished in fourth place, just missing a potential podium sweep in a shoot off with Bronze-Medalist winner, Juan Diego Angeloni, of Argentina. Together, Norton, Sunderman and Kozeniesky, earned a team Gold Medal with their combined score of 3470.
Along with his Gold-Medal win, Norton also earned the United States’ second and final Olympic quota in the Men’s Three-Position Rifle event for the 2020 Olympic Games. The first quota in that event was earned by fellow USAMU Soldier and two-time Olympian, Sgt. 1st Class Michael McPhail’s, from Darlington, Wisconsin, when he claimed the Bronze-Medal at the 2018 International Shooting Sports Federation’s World Championships in Korea, back in September.
A quota spot is essentially a country’s ticket to compete in a particular Olympic event. USA Shooting athletes winning Olympic quotas will still have to earn the right to compete in the Olympic Games individually.
Also, during the CAT Games, USAMU’s own, 2nd Lt. Sarah Beard, from Danville, Indiana, seized up another Gold Medal in the Women’s Three-Position Rifle event. Beard’s Qualification score also set an Americas record with her world-class score of 1176. Her U.S. teammates, MacKensie Martin and Rachel Garner, also qualified for the Final, both with scores of 1163. The powerhouse trio then earned a team Gold Medal for their combined score of 1836.5, setting yet another CAT record.
Beard’s individual Gold-Medal win also secured an Olympic quota for the United States in the Women’s Three-Position Rifle event for the 2020 Olympics. Beard, who is also a member of the U.S. Army’s World-Class Athlete Program (WCAP), competed in a number of other events while in Mexico, earning Gold Medals in the Women’s 50-meter Rifle Prone event (which is not an Olympic event and therefore, has no Olympic quota), Women’s Team Air Rifle, Women’s Team 50-meter Rifle Prone, and a Bronze-Medal in the Air Rifle Mixed Team event.
In the Women’s Skeet event, it was a Gold-Medal for USAMU’s 2nd Lt. Amber English, from Colorado Springs, Colorado, who is also in WCAP. The U.S. women’s squad was ineligible to win an Olympic quota in this event as the United States already earned the maximum number of quotas (two), at the World Championship back in September, in Changwon, South Korea.
In the Men’s Trap event, it was a Bronze Medal for USAMU’s 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist, Sgt. 1st Class Glenn Eller. With over the 125 targets used during Qualification – Eller would only drop one target, in his second round of 25 targets, to enter the Final with the highest score of 124. However, once in the Final, Eller would drop five targets early in his first 20, but continued to fight through to be eliminated in the Bronze-Medal position with 33 hits.
Team medals at the CAT Games do not earn country quota spots like the individual wins of Norton and Beard. Reason being, the Olympic team is made up from the individual athletes who make the Team USA, which is yet to be decided.
Nevertheless, USAMU Soldiers collected some impressive finishes and hardware as Sgt. Dustan Taylor, from Staley, North Carolina and Spc. Philip Jungman, a native of Caldwell, Texas, teamed up with individual Gold-Medalist, Frank Thompson, from Alliance, Nebraska, to capture the Gold Medal in the Men’s Team Skeet.
Side-by-side with other American athletes, USAMU Soldiers have so far helped Team USA secure eight of the 12 shooting sport tickets to the 2020 Olympic Games that were available during the CAT Games.
The United States has now earned the maximum number of quotas possible for the 2020 Olympic Games in the Men’s Skeet, Women’s Skeet and the Men’s Three-Position Rifle.
Outside of the opportunity of winning medals and 2020 Olympic quotas, the CAT games were also the only opportunity for athletes to earn quotas for the Pan American Games next summer in Lima, Peru, which is the last chance for athletes to earn quotas prior to the Games. The USA Shooting Team earned the maximum 24 quotas for the Pan American Games.
The U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit wins national and international shooting competitions, supports Army accessions, and advances small arms lethality to demonstrate Army marksmanship capability, enhance recruiting and increase marksmanship effectiveness in combat. USAMU is part of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command.
| Date Taken: | 11.16.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 11.20.2018 15:34 |
| Story ID: | 300733 |
| Location: | GUADALAJARA, JALISCO, MX |
| Web Views: | 92 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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