Scherer Wins Bronze, Sowash Finishes Fourth at World Cup USA

[USA Shooting]

Fort Benning, Ga. (March 31, 2014) - 2012 Olympian Sarah Scherer (Woburn, Mass., pictured right) picked up the first medal for the United States today at the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) World Cup in Fort Benning, Ga. in the Women’s Three-Position Rifle event. U.S. teammate Amy Sowash (Richmond, Ky.) also finished in fourth place.

Scherer qualified for the Final in sixth place with a score of 583 and Sowash qualified in third with a score of 589. Petra Zublasing of Italy qualified in first place and set a World Record in qualification with her score of 591.

Entering the Final, Sowash got out to an early lead, shooting the highest score for the first round of kneeling (52.7). She led through the second series as well and Scherer hovered in fourth place throughout the kneeling stage, but eventually fell behind in the stage to fall to sixth. Sowash was still in the lead after the prone position.

Sowash’s lead would fade in the standing position and Scherer would eventually move up to fourth place once again with the second-highest score for the first round of standing. Sowash finished the Final in fourth place with a score of 436.5. Scherer’s final score was 447.2.

“In the Final, I really just did what I knew I could do. I just enjoyed myself,” Scherer said. “I just thought ‘You got yourself here, you love this sport, and you love competing, just enjoy it, forget everything else and have fun’ and it came out pretty well.”

Hear more from Sarah Scherer here: http://youtu.be/H-IMbdk1ABs?t=7s
Scherer’s bronze medal is her first World Cup medal she has won in this event. Scherer won gold in Women’s Air Rifle at the 2011 World Cup in Changwon, Korea.

Also competing for the U.S. on her home range was Erin Lorenzen (Fort Wayne, Ind.) of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU). She finished in 12th place with a score of 580, just one point out of qualifying for the Finals. Emily Holsopple (Wilcox, Pa.), who was shooting in a Minimum Qualification Score (MQS) position and thus not eligible for Finals shot a score of 582 during qualification – a score that would have put her in eighth place and a spot in the Finals.

Zublasing won the gold medal in this event and Jing Chang of China won the silver.

View complete results from all of the events at this World Cup: http://www.issf-sports.org/calendar/cha ... hipid=1510.
More than 430 athletes from 53 countries have come to Fort Benning to compete in ten Olympic events in the Rifle and Pistol disciplines. Competition continues through Wednesday and up tomorrow at the ISSF World Cup is Men’s Rapid Fire Pistol, Free Pistol and Prone Rifle events.
Olympian Emil Milev (Temple Terrace, Fla.), will shoot Rapid Fire Pistol at this World Cup. Milev earned a World Cup Finals gold medal in November and began his 2014 campaign at the Pistol Selection Match by setting a new National Record in the Day 2 final with 33/40 hits – which put him just one shy of a World Record.
He will be joined on the line by Keith Sanderson (Colorado Springs, Colo.) who placed fifth in this event at last year’s World Cup USA and Brad Balsley (Uniontown, Pa. /USAMU).
Shooting Men’s Free Pistol for the United States will be Will Brown (Twin Falls, Idaho), Jason Turner (Rochester, N.Y.) and James Henderson (Midland, Ga. /USAMU).
Henderson won the finals both days of the Pistol Selection Match and shot the second-best Finals score (199.5) in the world since the inception of the new Finals. He qualified for the third and final position on the World Cup team by winning a shootoff against Stephen Lutz (Tonganoxie, Kan.).
In Men’s Prone Rifle, the U.S. will be represented by Michael McPhail (Darlington, Wis. /USAMU) who placed 7th in World Cup USA last year, his 2012 Olympic teammate Eric Uptagrafft (Phenix City, Ala. /USAMU) and 2012 Free Pistol Olympian Nick Mowrer (Butte, Mont.).
Mowrer has competed in four World Cups throughout his career...as a member of the Pistol National Team. At this World Cup USA, Mowrer will be the first American competitor to compete in international competition in different disciplines.

View start lists for these events here: http://www.issf-sports.org/calendar/cha ... hipid=1510.

View photos from today’s competition here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/usashooting/.