3 Medals in Munich

[USAS]

By Najasila Campbell
USA Shooting

MUNICH, Germany - For the fourth consecutive World Cup this season, the USA has captured hardware in the Men's Rifle Prone event. At the Munich World Cup May 28 to June 4, Team USA's Matt Emmons and Sgt.
1st Class Thomas A. Tamas of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit of Fort Benning, Ga., won Silver and Bronze Medals, respectively.

After the qualification rounds, the USA placed all three shooters in the finals May 31. In addition to Emmons and Tamas, Navy Reservist Lt. Eric Uptagrafft rounded out the U.S. men. Uptagrafft, currently on leave from his deployment in Iraq to shoot as part of the U.S. Team, entered the finals tied for the lead with Israeli shooter Guy Starik at 599 points. The pair was only one point ahead of Emmons and the eventual Gold Medalist Gil Simkovitch, as well as two points in front of fellow U.S. shooter Tamas.

Uptagrafft fired scores of 10.6 in the first two shots, but in his fourth and seventh shots dropped 9.9 and 9.7 to land him off the podium in fifth place. Tamas scored 104.9 in the finals, including a perfect 10.9 in his first shot, for an overall total of 701.9. Emmons stole the Silver by just 4/10ths of a point, for a Silver Medal finish with 702.3 overall. The competition was so close that 3/10ths of a point would have given Emmons a shot at the Gold. Simkovitch took the top honor with a total score of 702.6.

Another Uptagrafft came to the line May 31, only this time it was a pistol shooter. Navy Reserve Petty Officer 2nd Class Sandra Uptagrafft, wife of the rifle shooter, shot in the Women's Air Pistol competition firing for a score of 371. Fellow air pistol shooter Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Elizabeth Callahan shot a 376 overall. Their totals were not high enough to place them in the women's finals.

On the first day of shots in Munich, the Men's Air Pistol shooters were behind the firing line. Team USA's Brian Beaman and Sgt.
1st Class Daryl L. Szarenski of the USAMU both shot 577, but Beaman's final 10-string score of 97 was one point higher than Szarenski making him the top U.S. finisher in 29th place. With 11 athletes total in a tie with 577, Szarenski placed 32nd and Jason Turner shot a 573 for 55th place.

June 1, former USAMU Soldier Army Staff Sgt. Keith Sanderson won the Bronze Medal and an Olympic Quota Slot in the Men's Rapid Fire Pistol event. The USA now has 20 Olympic Quota Slots for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games but still needs eight more.

To date, the U.S. Rifle Team has secured nine medals on the World Cup 2007 tour. Combined with the impressive run from the U.S.
Shotgun Team, the USA has a grand total of 15 medals on the season. An Olympic Gold Medalist from Athens, Emmons has earned more than half of the hardware to include gold at World Cup USA in the Men's Prone competition. Other Gold Medalists include Lance Bade in Men's Trap, Kim Rhode in Women's Skeet, USAMU's Pfc. Walton Glenn Eller in Double Trap and Maj. Michael E. Anti of the USAMU in Men's Three Position Rifle.

(Formed in 1956 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to raise the standards of marksmanship throughout the U.S. Army, the Army Marksmanship Unit is assigned to the Accessions Support Brigade of the U.S. Army Accessions Command. The Marksmanship Unit trains its Soldiers to win competitions and enhances combat readiness through train-the-trainer clinics, research and development. For more information on the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, contact the Public Affairs Office at (706) 545-5436, paula.pagan@usaac.army.mil or http://www.usaac.army.mil/amu/. USA Shooting is recognized by the U.S.
Olympic Committee and the International Shooting Sport Federation as the national governing body for the Olympic and international shooting sports in the United States. For more information on USA Shooting, contact Public Relations Manager Najasila Campbell at (719) 866-4896 or
http://www.usashooting.com.)