The question we were left with yesterday was how much drama would the final day of competition bring in the first three events at the USA Shooting Olympic Trials in Ft. Benning, Georgia. The answer came quickly as before the qualification round was over one of the favorites had been knocked out. In the men’s 50m prone rifle event Matt Emmons looked to be in great shape heading into the final day of competition. The 34-year old who won gold in the event 12 years ago held a lead of 11.3 points over David Higgins. Higgins needed the round of his life and probably some help from Emmons. He got just that as he shot a 629.5 in qualification, the second best round of the weekend behind Emmons’ 629.7 on the first day. He also needed some help and that came in the form of a rough day for Emmons where he scored just 616.8, 11th out of the 14 shooters. Emmons round was bad enough that Higgins passed him for the lead outright at that point by 1.4 points. Emmons was not in the final due to finishing outside the top eight and was eliminated from contention. Higgins went on to win the final for good measure and finish with a cumulative score of 1896.9, a winning margin of 9.4 points over Emmons. Higgins is a 21-year old senior at the Air Force Academy where he competed for the rifle team. This is by far the biggest moment of his young career and it will be exciting to see if he can keep rising as he heads to Rio in August. Henry Gray wound up in third 2.4 points behind Emmons.
Things were slightly less dramatic in the men’s 50m free pistol competition. Jay Shi led by nine points entering the final day and then shot his best qualification round of the event, a competition high 565, to easily lock up the spot before the final. He wound up with a cumulative score of 1698 besting second place Will Brown by a whopping 26 points. Nick Mowrer wound up four points back of Brown in third. Shi is a 37-year old web developer who was born in Beijing and came to America at age 11 after an eye injury. Peaking at the right time Shi will be a great story going to Rio.
Finally in the women’s three-position rifle Ginny Thrasher held a seven-point lead entering the final day. She shot a 586 in the qualifying round, highest score of the day, and expanded her lead and clinched the Olympic spot before the final as well. Sarah Scherer posted a solid 583 in the qualification round and finished in second, nine points behind Thrasher’s total of 1781. Sarah Beard, the leader after day one, wound up third ten points behind Scherer. Thrasher, the reigning NCAA champion and just a freshman at West Virginia, is a rising star who has a promising future ahead of her.
Competition is not wrapped up at Ft. Benning and two more Olympic spots need to be determined. Competition will begin Wednesday and continue until Friday for the women’s sport pistol spot and the men’s rapid fire pistol spot. There will not be as many people in the running for these spots as the women’s sport pistol event features just six competitors while the men’s rapid fire pistol event has just four.
