Online boating safety course now available on any device at boat-ed.com

Those seeking a boating license can get certified by taking an online boater safety course on any device at the newly revamped www.boat-ed.com.

“With half of all adults in the U.S. now owning a smartphone, and tablets and e-readers gaining in popularity, it makes sense for boat-ed.com to be mobile ready,” said Edward Cossette, user experience manager for Kalkomey, parent company of boat-ed.com. “The pages at boat-ed.com are automatically resized according to the device used, from a smartphone to Internet TV and everything in between, no app required.”

The training at boat-ed.com is state-approved and covers the same material that’s taught in the classroom. The new mobile-ready site features detailed illustrations, interactive animations and videos.

Another benefit of boat-ed.com being available on any device is students can access the course on the Web even if the only way they have to connect to the Internet is via their smartphone.

“We know people appreciate the convenience of being able to use their down time to take our course as well as benefit from the fast connect we’ve come to expect from our mobile devices,” Cossette said. “In fact, from 2010 to 2011, we saw a 500 percent increase in the number of people visiting boat-ed.com using a mobile device.”
Regardless of what device students use to take the boater safety course, they’ll learn safe boating skills such as casting off and docking, understanding traffic laws on the water, dealing with emergencies and more.

Students who must receive their boater education certificate or boating license pay a one-time fee, which is due only if they pass the course. After passing the course at boat-ed.com, students in most states can print out the temporary certificate and immediately begin enjoying safe boating.

The recognized leader in boating safety, Boat Ed® is an official provider of print and Internet boating safety courses for 49 states, plus the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. For more information, visit www.boat-ed.com.

About Kalkomey
Kalkomey, parent company of Boat Ed® and boat-ed.com, is the official provider of recreational safety education materials for all 50 states. Our print and Internet courses have been providing official safety certification since 1995. We provide safety courses in boating, hunting, bowhunting, and off-road vehicle (ORV) and snowmobile operation. For more information, visit http://www.kalkomey.com/.

Top Air: Sarah Scherer Earns Finals Bid In Milan

Scherer, a Texas Christian University (TCU) junior, earned her way onto the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team after winning the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Airgun in February.  The 22-year-old Massachusetts native has had a triumphant couple of months in the sport stringing together an Olympic berth, NCAA individual and team titles, and now a finals spot against elite-level competition.  She’s the feature athlete in the newest issue of USA Shooting News, and you can read her tragedy to triumph evolution here: http://mag.spectrumprinting.biz/publication/?i=110950

Scherer earned her way into the final of eight shooters after a qualification shoot-off, and then came out and shot the second-best finals score of 104.5 to climb two spots into sixth position and a final score of 501.5 (397+104.5).  Gray, like Scherer, also shot 397 points in qualifying but would be eliminated during the eight-person qualification shoot-off.

The reigning Olympic champion Katerina Emmons (CZE),the wife of USA Shooting Team member Matt Emmons (Colorado Springs, Colo.), won the event.  Emmons made it to the final with an equaled world record of 400 points, tying the mark also shot by Germany’s Sonja Pfeilschifter. Then, shooting consistently from the first to the last shot, she finished with a total score of 505.5 points to out-distance Pfeilschifter, and leave her just one tenth of a point from the current Final World Record of 505.6 points.

“I have been away from the top for so long, that I did not even have a clue of what the Final World Record was!” Emmons said, smiling right after the match.  “I have been doing a lot of work, training hard, and it paid-off. It has been a great match, and the good news is that I feel good and everything worked as it should.”

Twenty-one USA Shooting athletes, including 10 Olympians, are in Italy for their final International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup event before the London 2012 Olympic Games.  For a roster of athletes participating, including the 21-person squad for USA Shooting, click here:http://bit.ly/JPwMcO

Phoenix Publisher Announces April Release of Second Book by Steamboat Springs Physician – DocDawn

PHOENIX, Arizona. – March 21, 2012 – Phoenix-based publisher, RICHER Press announced today the April 17th release of “From the Edge of the Cliff: Understanding the Two Phases of Recovery and Becoming the Person You’re Meant to Be” by Dawn Obrecht, M.D.

 In 2009, DocDawn, as she is affectionately called by friends, published her first book, “Mission Possible: A Missionary Doctor’s Journey of Healing”. “Mission Possible” is an enchanting story of her global medical missions to help others. The book was recently nominated for the prestigious Montaigne Medal. Each year, the Eric Hoffer Award for books presents Montaigne Medals to the most thought-provoking books that either illuminate progress or redirect thought.

Dr. Obrecht’s new book is a 262 page paperback which creatively provides those recovering from drug and/or alcohol abuse with practical lessons on how to understand and successfully navigate the two-phases of recovery from drug and/or alcohol addiction.  However, it has also been widely described by critics as a remarkably touching, real-life story which recaps many of the lessons learned by DocDawn herself as she transitioned into her own successful recovery, more than 28 years ago. According to RICHER Press co-publisher, Earl Cobb,  “It is rare to find in one book the combination of a well-written, instructive, addiction-recovery resource and an unfettered look into the world of the “addict next door.”

In “From the Edge of the Cliff”, Dr. Obrecht  candidly, yet caringly, shares how she was able to escape decades of the destructive and hurtful world of drug and alcohol addiction by facing the reality of the disease, understanding the recovery process and finding a deep, personal relationship with God.

“From the Edge of the Cliff” is scheduled to be released simultaneously in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia on April 17, 2012. You can preview DocDawn’s new book and purchase a limited quantity of exclusively signed “pre-release” copies of “From the Edge of the Cliff” by visiting the RICHER Press online bookstore at www.richerlifeassociates.com prior to April 15^th.

RICHER Press is the leading imprint of the Media and Peak Performance Management firm, Richer Life, LLC and is an affiliate of the Ingram Book Company.

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ABOUT RICHER LIFE, LLC

Richer Life, LLC is a Phoenix-based media and peak performance management firm. Its RICHER Press division specializes in the development, collaboration and distribution of contemporary trade books as well as other print, digital and broadcast media.

 ABOUT INGRAM

The Ingram Book Company (IBC) is the largest book wholesale distributor in the world, offering immediate access to more than two million titles. Through IBC’s speed, breadth of titles, and operational excellence, the company is the preferred wholesale provider for more than 71,000 retail and library customers globally.

 For more Information Contact Connie@richerlifeassociates.com or Phone: (602)772.4988

WOMA Members Lanny and Tracy Barnes to be featured at OTIS Booth!

 

USA Shooting Viewpoint: Men vs. Women in Competitive Shooting

As the National Governing Body (NGB) for the sport of Olympic-style shooting in the United States, USA Shooting (USAS) welcomes the dialogue created by the recent article in the Wall Street Journal by Mark Yost titled: Taking Aim at an Old Debate: Can female athletes compete against men? In shooting, yes – but not in the Olympics. In this article, Yost points out several interesting facts and observations about our sport. This dialogue allows us to engage the shooting community, expand our thinking and establish pathways for bettering our sport for the future.

You will get little argument from many of today’s top shooters, both male and female, as to the shooting abilities of women throughout USA Shooting’s ranks. The success of the collegiate programs like TCU and many intercollegiate programs in the U.S. only echo these beliefs as do some of the sport’s elite shooters like Kim Rhode, a four-time Olympic medalist in trap and skeet shooting, or Katy Emmons, a three-time Olympic medalist from the Czech Republic who is married to the USA’s most successful rifle shooter, Matt Emmons.

“I am a born competitor and whether it is men or women I want to win,” said Jamie Gray, a 2008 Olympian in Rifle. “In a sport that is equal between men and women I would most definitely enjoy the competition. I started out only knowing that men and women compete against each other. It wasn’t until I learned shooting was an Olympic sport that I realized men and women didn’t compete against each other. It is exciting to me that there are still sports out there that men and women can be equal, however for other reasons it may be better that there are different categories for each.”

From 1968 through the 1980 Olympic Games, Olympic shooting events were mixed, with opportunities for women and men to participate regardless of gender. At the 1980 Games in Moscow, there were six shooting events contested. At the upcoming Games in London, there will be 15 events contested. Opportunities for women to compete in Olympic shooting have not shrunk with the dissolution of “mixed” events, but rather have grown as a result not only in our brand of shooting but across all platforms of the shooting sports.

Research by the National Sporting Goods Association shows female participation in target shooting grew by 46.5% between 2001 and 2010. And an October 2011 Gallup Poll found 23 percent of women own a gun. According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, from 2001 to 2010, female participation in hunting grew by almost 37 percent.

In Olympic competition, 14 women got the opportunity to compete in shooting at the 1980 and 1976 Olympic Games combined. Since that time, the numbers have risen from 77 in 1984 to 145 female competitors at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Recent history also suggests that woman can perform alongside men in shooting competitions. At the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, female competitor Shan Zhang of China became the Olympic gold medalist that year in mixed-event skeet competition. Over two days of competition she produced a score of 373 out of 375, a new Olympic and world record. She also became the first woman to topple the men in the history of the Olympic Games’ shooting competition. Since that time, no mixed events have been held in an Olympic shooting competition.

“As a proud American female citizen, participating in a sport where gender-specific characteristics are not advantageous, I would overwhelmingly favor a chance to compete in a mixed event – or at least a women’s event with an equal number of targets as the men,” said Kelsey Zauhar, a USA Shooting National Team member in Shotgun. “But my personal opinion is in a sea of thousands of competitors, and I am not going to be seen as more right or more correct than anyone else just because I speak louder with words. I will let my performance speak volumes and hopefully it will inspire some little girl sitting in her living room, three feet from the television with visions of Olympic glory flashing through her eyes. And hopefully she’ll pull at her father’s shirt tail asking him to take her to the shooting range where she can join the other females already participating.”

In large part, equality for woman at the elite level often comes down to participation numbers where men still far exceed women in the sport. Effort to get more women shooting is a collaborative effort for all within the firearms industry. This June, all over the country, young girls will head out to go shoot something. They will be attending the inaugural National Take Your Daughters To The Range Day on June 9. This event will be an opportunity for gun ranges throughout the nation to introduce many young women to a sport that may just become a life-long hobby, or even a profession.

“Boys learn to shoot in Scouts or with their Dads,” National Take Your Daughters to The Range Day co-founder and firearms instructor, Lynne Finch, said. “Often, the girls are left behind because shooting isn’t ‘girly.’ Well, we can, and do shoot, and well. Learning to shoot gives young women confidence, helps to build self-esteem, and introduces them to a sport they can participate in their whole lives.”

“I think that anytime you have competition where size or strength is not a factor, females can absolutely compete with the males,” said USA Shooting National Team Pistol shooter and USAS Board member Sandra Uptagrafft. “The fundamentals of executing a good shot work the same regardless of gender, size or age. The question of why females no longer compete with males or why we have differing number of shots in the same events comes up often when I explain our sport to new people. It does seem sexist, but the fact that we have separate events from males in the Olympics actually is a good thing since more females can compete this way. There can only be so many people on the shooting line at one time. Since I am not tall enough, fast enough or strong enough to compete in most other Olympic sports, I personally am just happy to have a sport like shooting in which I can excel.”

“We now have marketing specifically to attract our demographic and manufacturers are more sensitive to our needs,” Uptagrafft added. “I am particularly happy about this since I can now find weapons, clothing, gear and other accessories made for someone my size.”

A young female competitor competes in USA Shooting’s Progressive Position Pistol event geared toward getting more youth involved in the sport of shooting. For competitive shooters, the debate isn’t centered on whether men and women should be competing on a level playing field however. The changes made to the Olympic program allow more women to compete internationally and likely encourage greater participation among all females at the elite levels of competitive shooting. Getting even more women involved both competitively and within the leadership ranks of the major shooting sports organizations domestically and internationally is the next step. In addition, so to is looking at the match disparities between the two and trying to move toward greater equality in that sense.

“I would love to shoot against the men for all of these reasons,” said Amy Sowash, a USA Shooting National Team member in Rifle. “I think it’s a chance for women to shine in a world often dominated by men. Not only are there sport stereotypes to overcome, but also gun stereotypes. Many people think men are better at shooting just because hunting and military careers are dominated by them. In building role models for young women, I think it’s important to highlight skill sets that are not only good, but world-class. This is a chance for women to be seen in a completely different light where they are not valued based on appearance. In other women’s Olympic sports the focus often drifts to the most attractive players and teams. Men are praised for their skills, women for their looks. Any opportunity for a woman to be judged based on her abilities is positive.”

Mothers, daughters and sisters have more opportunity to experience the shooting sports than ever before given the growth and interest of firearm ownership worldwide. With growth comes greater debate and awareness along with intensifying advocacy. Those ingredients have always provided the foundation for the enhancement of our sport.

To learn more about USA Shooting, click here. To learn more about National Take Your Daughter to the Range Day, click here. The National Rifle Association (NRA) sponsors a variety of programs to get women actively involved in shooting.

A Tribute to Women in Hunting, Conservation

March is officially Women’s History Month. Congress designated the tribute to generations of women whose contributions proved invaluable to American society. Education. Arts. Business. Technology. Medicine. Alongside these areas, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation also is commemorating women’s role in conservation.

“Most Americans appreciate wildlife and wild places, but most also are unaware that these public resources thrive because of hunters—and, more than ever, because of hunters who happen to be women,” said RMEF President and CEO David Allen.

Today, conservation funding from women collectively, and conservation leadership from women individually, are undervalued but extremely significant.

Allen explained, “The number of women in hunting, sport shooting and gun ownership is up; therefore, the number of women who are contributing to conservation also is up.”

Statistics suggest that women now contribute up to $117 million per year to wildlife and habitat programs by way of their hunting license fees, special taxes on new firearms, ammunition, bows and arrows, and voluntary donations to organizations like RMEF.

Women hunters also are responsible for up to $5.9 billion per year in economic output.

Those figures are calculated as 9 percent of the respective totals generated by all hunters combined, since females make up about 9 percent of all hunters.

Females also compose roughly 9 percent of elk hunters specifically—as well as about 9 percent of all RMEF members. That percentage jumps a couple points in demographic studies of the most avid attendees at RMEF fundraising events. It jumps again at the volunteer ranks. An estimated 33 percent of RMEF volunteers are women.

Aside from their contributions as hunters, sport shooters, gun owners, consumers, donors and volunteers, women are vital to conservation today as professionals working in the field. About 40 percent of the RMEF staff is women. RMEF’s largest conservation partner, the U.S. Forest Service, has a workforce of wildlife biologists that is that 43 percent female. Women work as game wardens, researchers, land managers, agency directors and every other role that helps make conservation go.

Allen said, “If conservation had a number to represent its ‘Gross Domestic Product,’ meaning the total of all goods and services associated with conservation in 2012, I think we’d all be surprised at how much of that total is influenced by women.”

Examples of women whose influence has reached deep into elk country:

· Gail Kimbell, chief of the U.S. Forest Service, 2007-2009. Kimbell presided over conservation work on 193 million acres of public lands. Most elk and elk hunting in the U.S. occur on these lands.

· Dr. Christine Thomas, RMEF past-director and founder of Becoming an Outdoors-Woman, the nation’s premier program to introduce women to sporting lifestyles.

· Cheryl Haralson, RMEF past-director. Known as the “Arkansas Elk Lady,” she hunted and bagged Arkansas’ state-record bull and continues to champion elk and elk habitat in her home state and across the country.

· Haralson, Kay Clark, Debbie Lewis, Annie Lewis, Penney Oncken and Tammie Lynne Smith are among the recipients of RMEF’s highest honor, the Wallace Fennell Pate Wildlife Conservation Award. Alongside their husbands and families, each has given special gifts of money, time and talent to benefit elk and other wildlife.

· Four of the ten Elk Country Awards presented by RMEF and the U.S. Forest Service for exemplary habitat stewardship have honored women: Jodie Canfield of the Helena National Forest, Jane Ingebretson of the Flathead National Forest, Kathleen Johnson of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, and Melanie Woolever of the agency’s regional office in Denver.

· RMEF Team Elk members Tiffany Lakosky and Kristy Titus, TV personalities who inspire countless girls and women to get involved with hunting and conservation.

Allen said, “Women are contributing in various ways to the RMEF mission. They’re a major part of why hunting is conservation today—and their growing involvement positions our entire community to better meet our challenges in the future.”
Tidbits:

· RMEF now exceeds $500,000 in sponsorships of Becoming an Outdoors-Woman and other programs to introduce women to hunting, sport shooting and conservation.

· According to CBS News, the national total for female gun owners has doubled over the last decade, increasing to nearly 5 million women since 2001.

· The most authoritative source of hunter data, the National Survey of Hunting, Fishing and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, shows flat recent trends in numbers of women hunters. But the survey did track a remarkable spike—in fact, a doubling—of females afield between 1985 and 1990.

· Data from the National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA), an organization for retailers, shows that female participation in hunting rose 36 percent between 2001 and 2010, to a total of 2.4 million women hunters.

· NSGA data also shows that female participation in sport shooting rose 46 percent during 2001-2010, to a total of 4.8 million.

· The National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade association for the shooting, hunting and outdoor industry, reports that 61 percent of its member companies noted an increase in female customers between 2009 and 2010.
About the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation:
RMEF is leading a conservation initiative that has protected or enhanced habitat on over 6 million acres—an area larger than Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Glacier, Yosemite, Rocky Mountain and Great Smoky Mountains national parks combined. RMEF also is a strong voice for hunters in access, wildlife management and conservation policy issues. RMEF members, partners and volunteers, working together as Team Elk, are making a difference all across elk country. Join us at www.rmef.org or 800-CALL ELK.

Olympic Dreams for Shooters Set to Become Reality at 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Airgun in Ohio

Olympic dreams will be made thisweekend in Port Clinton, Ohio, during the second round of the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Airgun.  Over 180 athletes are headed to the Civilian Marksmanship Program’s (CMP) north location at Camp Perry, Feb. 24-26, for a shot at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team.

The first round of U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Airgun took place in December 2011 at the CMP’s south facility in Anniston, Ala.  The scores from the first part will be combined with those from the event this coming weekend.  On Sunday, Feb. 26, USA Shooting will nominate six athletes to the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team: two each from Men’s 10m Air Rifle, Women’s 10m Air Rifle and Men’s 10m Air Pistol.

2008 Olympian Emily Caruso is in a tie for first place with Sarah Scherer as the second stage of the Olympic Trials for Airgun get underway this weekend in Ohio.

In an unlikely turn of events, there are not one but two leaders in Women’s 10m Air Rifle. Both Sarah Scherer (Woburn, Mass.) and Emily Caruso (Fairfield, Conn.) fired identical scores after two days.  The duo is two points ahead of 2008 Olympian Jamie Gray (Lebanon, Pa.), who finished fourth in airgun in Beijing.  Caruso is the most experienced shooter in the group as a two-time Olympian, but as a 21-year-old, Scherer’s youth and tenacity are not to be underestimated.  Scherer and Caruso dueled at the 2008 Trials, but Caruso prevailed to earn the women’s air rifle selection.  With two spots available for London, competition between these three will be fierce.  Adding to the pressure is Meghann K. Morrill (Boerne, Texas) in the fourth position.  Morrill ended on a high note with 399 points her second day of shooting.

In Women’s 10m Air Pistol, Sandra Uptagrafft (Phenix City, Ala.) is nearly 20 points ahead of the other competitors.  However, the USA Shooting Team does not have a quota for Women’s 10m Air Pistol for London, so this match will not determine a women’s pistol representative.

In airgun, female competitors shoot 60 and 40 shots respectively during a single course of fire at electronic targets 10m (32.8 feet) down range.  The maximum number of points available is 400 points for women with 10 being the highest score possible per shot.  Female competitors have 1 hour and 15 minutes to complete all shots.  Athletes then qualify for the finals by placing in the top eight after an aggregate match score.  The final for both events consists of ten shots fired on command by the Chief Range Officer.  The scoring in the finals is unique from the rest of the match because decimals are counted, so the maximum number of points a competitor can earn is 109 points with 10.9 being the highest score possible per shot.  Olympic Team selection will be based on the aggregate of four courses of fire and two best finals.

Spectators are welcome to attend and cheer on future Olympians.  For more information on the CMP North Marksmanship Center and live results, please visit the CMP website.  For updates and daily recaps, please visit the USA Shooting website, Twitter or Facebook page.

The U.S. Olympic Team Trials for all sports is a collaborative, three-way partnership between the U.S. Olympic Committee, the national governing bodies and the local organizing committees.  All athletes nominated to the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team must be approved by the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Kim Rhode Named USA Shooting’s 2011 Female Athlete of the Year

The WOMA would like to congratulate Kim Rhode (El Monte, Calif.) for being named USA Shooting’s 2011 Female Athlete of the Year. She has risen above the rest and has handfuls of hardware as a result of her impressive performance on the international and national scene in 2011.

Rhode, a Women’s Skeet athlete, is the reigning Female Athlete of the Year and has held the prestigious title for the past four years. “I’m honored to be selected as Female Athlete of the Year. I’m training hard and looking forward to the 2012 Olympic Games,” said an elated Rhode. After a fifth place finish at the ISSF World Cup Chile, Rhode won a gold medal in Sydney, securing her U.S. Olympic Team nomination (pending approval by the USOC). Rhode’s won another medal at the ISSF World Cup in Beijing-a silver medal from the range where she won her 2008 Olympic silver medal.

Back stateside, Rhode etched her name yet again in the Sizemore trophy with another National Championship title. She concluded the year with a bronze medal at the ISSF World Clay Target Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, and her first ISSF World Cup Final gold medal in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. “This is an exciting time for me,” said Rhode. “I’m honored to receive this Athlete of the Year award and appreciate the support of my great sponsors who share in this honor with me.” Rhode is well on her way to achieving her next goal of accomplishing five individual Olympic medals in five consecutive Olympic Games. If she accomplishes that feat, she will add her name to the history books yet again.

Women of USA Shooting Leading the Field at the U.S. Olympic Team Airgun Trials

The leaders have emerged from the first part of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Airgun at the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) South Marksmanship Center in Anniston, Ala.  The scores from the first part will be combined with those of the second part, which will be held the CMP’s North Marksmanship Center in Camp Perry, Ohio from Feb. 23-26.  Olympic Team selection will be based on the aggregate of four courses of fire and two best finals.

Sarah Scherer (Woburn, Mass.) and Emily Caruso (Fairfield, Conn.) are deadlocked at 898 aggregate points in Women’s 10m Air Rifle.  Oddly enough in a game of tenths, both scored a best final of 104 points.  Jamie Gray (Lebanon, Pa.) is in third place with 896.2 aggregate points.  Gray fired 397 points the second match day to stay in the race at only 1.8 points behind.

In Women’s 10m Air Pistol, Sandra Uptagrafft (Phenix City, Ala.) is ahead of the competition with 859.5 aggregate points, nearly twenty points ahead of the competition.  Darian Shenk (Annville, Pa.) is in the second position with 839.6 aggregate points.  Kylie Gagnon (Bozeman, Mont.)  jumped up a few places for an aggregate of 836.2 points.

U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Women’s Airgun

The journey toward the London 2012 Olympic Games continues as the women of USA Shooting take the stage in the first part of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Airgun in Anniston, Alabama. The event takes place from Dec. 2-4 at the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) South Marksmanship Center.

At the completion of the 2010 and 2011 World Cup seasons, the women’s USA Shooting Team won two 10m Air Rifle quotas. These valuable quotas determine the number of athletes that will represent the USA in the 2012 Olympic Games. The scores from the first part will be combined with those of the second part, which will be held the CMP’s North Marksmanship Center in Camp Perry, Ohio from Feb. 22-25. Olympic Team selection will be based on the aggregate of four courses of fire and two best finals.

Women’s 10m Air Rifle will be an interesting event as no clear champions have emerged in the past two seasons of competition. Meghann K. Morrill (Boerne, Texas) made the final in last year’s World Championships and is the reigning National Champion, but didn’t medal in a World Cup this year. The only Women’s 10m Air Rifle World Cup medalist in 2011 was Sarah Scherer (Woburn, Mass.) with a gold medal (and quota) winning performance in Changwon. Scherer’s collegiate teammate Sarah Beard (Danville, Ind.) is also on the radar as she delivered an exceptional performance for the silver medal at the 2011 National Championship. Two-time Olympian Emily Caruso (Fairfield, Conn.) is also a strong contender. Coming off a recent gold medal (and quota) performance at the Pan American Games, Caruso’s shooting is peaking at the right time in the season. Another name that’s liable to show up in the finals is Jamie Gray (Lebanon, Pa.). Gray, formerly Jamie Beyerle, like Emmons has already received an Olympic nomination (pending approval by the USOC) in Women’s 50m Rifle Three Position, but is looking to assert herself in airgun competition. With two spots available for the female competitors and the top talent on the line, it is likely that the athletes who reach the podium will be separated by just tenths of a point.

Spectators are welcome to attend and cheer on future Olympians. For more information on the CMP South Marksmanship Center and live results, please visit the CMP website. For updates and daily recaps, please visit the USA Shooting website or Facebook page.

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