2016 Olympian Michael McPhail won the men’s 50m rifle prone event as he grabbed a commanding lead of 5.3 points over Dempster Christenson going into the final and finished second in the final behind Christenson to win the national championship after finishing second last year. McPhail was the best shooter in qualifying on both days. Jason Dardas had fallen into fourth before the final but finished third in the final to move back into the bronze medal position. 2016 Olympian David Higgins missed out on the final and finished ninth,

In the women’s 50m rifle event Morgan Phillips fired off a competition best 625.1 on the second day to win the title on a tiebreaker after finishing in a tie with Hanna Carr. Ariana Grabowski stayed in third and finished 3.1 behind Phillips and Carr. Barrett Ray had been in second but a second day 608.4 left her in seventh. Defending champion Reya Kempley was able to move up to fourth but finished three behind the bronze medal position.

Greg Markowski’s quest for his third win of the week, in the men’s 10m air pistol, came down to the wire but a strong performance by Nick Mowrer did just enough to win the event. Mowrer was three points better in the qualifying to take a point lead going into the final. That margin was vital as Markowski won the event with Mowrer in second, causing the title to be decided by inner ten’s during the qualifying rounds, a tiebreaker that went to Mowrer. James Hall fell from second to third where he finished six points behind the top two.

In the women’s event Alexis Lagan maintained a six point lead going into the final and finished third to lock up the gold. Sandra Uptagrafft was second in the final and finished five points behind Lagan. Brenda Silva finished eight points behind Uptagrafft in third.

In the first day of the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol event 2016 Olympian Emil Milev was the start shooting a 573 to take an 18 point lead over Anatoly Pikman. Justin Ahn is in third place with a score of 553. The event will wrap up on Monday with a second day of qualifying and then a final.

Monday will also be the first day of qualifying in the men’s 10m air rifle and the women’s 50m three position rifle events. The men’s event will feature 2016 Olympians Lucas Kozeniesky and Daniel Lowe as well as defending champion Dempster Christenson. Lowe was third in the competition last year with Kozeniesky in 22nd. The women’s event will feature 2016 Olympians Sarah Scherer and Virginia Thrasher as well as the second and third place finishers from last year, Erin McNeil and Amy Sowash. Thrasher was fourth last year. The overall competition continues in Ft. Benning until Wednesday.

Previous 2016 USA Shooting National Championships Coverage:
Preview
Thursday Update
Friday Update
Saturday Update

2016 Olympian Michael McPhail took the lead in the men’s 50m rifle prone event on day one as he tries to improve on last year’s second place finish. McPhail shot a 631.2 to take a 3.6 point lead over Dempster Christenson. Jason Dardas is 2.4 points behind Christenson as there is a lot of separation developing in the event. The other 2016 Olympian, David Higgins, is in sixth after a 622.9 opening day. In the women’s 50m rifle event defending champion Reya Kempley will be hard pressed to repeat after an opening day 616.7 left her in sixth. Hanna Carr leads with a 622.1 and a 3.8 point lead over Barrett Ray. Ariana Grabowski is in third 0.7 points behind Ray.

The lead in the men’s 10m air pistol belongs to Greg Markowski, going for his third win of the week, after an opening day 576 put him one point above James Hall. Nick Mowrer, second last year, is in third with a 574. Things aren’t as tight in the women’s event as Alexis Lagan leads with a 583, six ahead of Brenda Silva. Sandra Uptagrafft it just one point behind Silva.

All of these events wrap up Sunday. There will be finals in the men’s and women’s air pistol events and the men’s rifle event after the second day of qualifying. The women’s rifle event ends with a second round of qualifying shooting. There will also be the first day of qualifying for the men’s rapid fire pistol event. 2016 Olympian Emil Milev will compete in the event where he finished second last year. The overall competition continues in Ft. Benning until Wednesday.

Previous 2016 USA Shooting National Championships Coverage:
Preview
Thursday Update
Friday Update

Greg Markowski won both the 25m standard pistol and the 25m center fire pistol competitions at the USA Shooting National Championships on Friday. Markowski shot a competition high 575 in the 25m standard pistol event to win the event by 14 points over Emil Milev. Nick Mowrer cut into Milev’s margin on Friday but still finished two points behind him in third. It was the same order in the 25m center fire pistol event but Milev had the best second day score, besting Markowski by two points to finish just two points back in second with an 1160 score. Mowrer finished 20 points back of Milev.

2016 Olympian Virginia Thrasher had a comeback on Friday to move into second going into the final and then finished second in the final to jump into first place and win the 10m air rifle competition. Thrasher posted a 416.9 in the second day of competition but still trailed Minden Miles by 3.5 going into the final after a competition high 418.4 from Miles in the second day of qualifying. Needing to not only do well in the final but also have Miles go out semi-early, Thrasher got her break as Miles ended up finishing sixth in the final and opening the door for Thrasher. She needed a second place finish at that point and she got it, barely holding her off for the national title 838.6 to 838.1. Co-leader after day one Elizabeth Gratz shot at 394.8 in the second day of qualifying and wound up 39th. Amy Sowash fell from third to fifth going into the final and wound up in seventh after finishing seventh in the final as well. 2016 Olympian Sarah Scherer moved into fourth going into the final and then won the final to finish third, 0.6 points behind Miles.

Dempster Christenson and Ryan Jacobs continued their nice battle on the second day of qualifying in the men’s 50m 3 position rifle as Christenson overcame a two point deficit to take a one point lead into the final after a second day 1171. With a 11 point gap back to third it would come down to Christenson and Jacobs in the final. Unfortunately Jacobs went out first so Christenson had the title locked up without much drama. He went on to win the final and finish with 2348, eight ahead of Jacobs. Daniel Lowe moved into third before the final and held off four shooters who had been within two of him after finishing fourth in the final. He needed a tiebreaker to beat 2016 Olympian Lucas Kozeniesky who was tied for fourth going into the final and finished fourth in the final and fourth overall. Ivan Roe had been in second after the first day but an 1135 on the second day dropped him all the way to 14th. Defending runner-up George Norton rebounded on the second day to finish seventh.

Saturday is the first of two days of qualifying in the men’s and women’s 10m air pistol events as well as the men’s 50m rifle prone event. None of the 2016 Olympians in the pistol events will be competing but Mowrer, who was second in the men’s event last year, is back. The two 2016 Olympians in the rifle, Michael McPhail and David Higgins, are both competing. McPhail was second last year in the event. The women’s 50m prone rifle event will also begin with the first day of competition. Defending champion Reya Kempley will be defending her title. The overall competition continues in Ft. Benning until Wednesday.

Previous 2016 USA Shooting National Championships Coverage:
Preview
Thursday Update