MONDAY, JUNE 26, 2017   ■   SHOOTING COMPETITIONS

Opportunities at USA Shooting National Championship for Rifle/Pistol

USA Shooting will once again host the National Championship for Rifle/Pistol at the home of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit in Fort Benning, Georgia starting Sunday and concluding on July 2.

Even though attendance at National Championships the year after an Olympic Games usually lags, nearly 350 competitors are registered to compete at this event, including 30 international athletes. With several National Junior Team members currently in Germany competing in the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Junior World Championship for Rifle/Pistol, as well as athletes taking the year off following the Olympic Games, opportunities abound for the next crop of top athletes to stake their claim to National Team, National Junior Team or National Paralympic Team status.

Returning National Champions competing at this year's Championships include Olympians Emil Milev (Men's Rapid Fire Pistol/Temple Terrace, Florida), Lucas Kozeniesky (Men's Air Rifle/Fairfax, Virginia) and Sandra Uptagrafft (Women's Sport Pistol/Phenix City, Alabama). Other returning National Champions include Dempster Christenson (Men's Three-Position Rifle/Sioux Falls, South Dakota) and Alexis Lagan (Women's Air Pistol/Las Vegas, Nevada).

2016 Olympians who did not compete in last year's National Championships making their return to competition include pistol athletes Will Brown (Twin Falls, Idaho), Jay Shi (Phoenix, Arizona) and Keith Sanderson (Colorado Springs, Colorado).

USA Shooting will once again host a World Shooting Para Sport (WSPS, formerly IPC Shooting) Level 1 Approved Competition in conjunction with this year's National Championship with 31 athletes from nine countries participating. Athletes who earn a Minimum Qualifying Score (MQS) at the WSPS match will be eligible for the WSPS World Championship in Cheongju, South Korea next year with American athletes earning appointments to the Paralympic National Team. Competing in the WSPS match includes several medalists from the 2016 Paralympic Games, including bronze medalist McKenna Dahl (Arlington, Washington).

Competition begins Sunday. Listed below is a summary schedule of which events occur which days, but you can find the complete schedule here:http://www.usashooting.org/library/Competitions/
0_2017/RP_Natls/2017_RP_Nationals_Tentative_Schedules.pdf.

National Championships for Rifle/Pistol and WSPS Competition Schedule

June 25: PET/OTR

June 26: Women's Air Rifle, Standard Pistol, Center/Junior Men's Sport Pistol, Men's Three-Position Rifle, R4, R2, R3, P3, R7

June 27: Women's Air Rifle, Standard Pistol, Center/Junior Men's Sport Pistol, Men's Three-Position Rifle, R4, R2, R3, P3, R7

June 28: Women's Air Pistol, Men's Air Pistol, Men's Prone Rifle, Women's Prone Rifle, P1, P2, R6

June 29: Women's Air Pistol, Men's Air Pistol, Men's Rapid Fire Pistol, Women's Prone Rifle, Men's Prone Rifle, P1, P2, R6

June 30: Men's Air Rifle, Men's Rapid Fire Pistol, Women's Three-Position Rifle, R1, R8

July 1: Men's Air Rifle, Women's Sport Pistol, Women's Three-Position Rifle, Men's Free Pistol, R1, R5, P4, R8

July 2: Women's Sport Pistol, Men's Free Pistol, P4, R5

ELEY is a Proud Sponsor of the USA Shooting Rifle and Pistol Teams: ELEY Limited, manufacturer of the world's most consistently accurate rimfire ammunition, has been the Official Sponsor and Official Supplier of .22 rimfire ammunition of the USA Shooting rifle and pistol teams since 2000. For more information on ELEY and their products, please visit eley.co.uk.

Contact:
Jessica Delos Reyes
jessica.delosreyes@usashooting.org
USA Shooting