The first 2022 Para National Team Selection camp closed out with Jazmin Almlie-Ryan breaking the national record for 10m SH2 air rifle R5 with a score of 639.9, 60x, and Kevin Nguyen breaking the national record for 10m prone mixed air rifle R3 with a score of 634.8.
“I have been shooting this for several years so it feels wonderful” said Almile-Ryan, a two-time Paralympian. “To be able to come to this camp and perform at my best is a great feeling.”
The weeklong competition consisted of 10m air rifle, 25m sport pistol, and 50m smallbore matches at the U.S. Olympic Shooting Center from Feb 13-18.
“My plan for this competition was to work on the things I have been training for and to be a little aggressive,” said Nguyen, an Army Staff Sgt. Assigned to the Army Marksmanship Unit and World Class Athlete Program. “I need to be able to shoot at this level in any match I go to.”
Personal records were also broken across multiple disciplines by Jason Pepper in 10m air rifle visually impaired, Robert Beach and Steve Holbert in the 10m prone air rifle R3, Stetson Bardfield and Madison Champion in 10m air rifle SH2 R5, and McKenna Geer, who broke her own national record, in 50m prone rifle R9.
“This camp went great,” said Donald Stith, U.S. Shooting Paralympic head coach. “There was top notch shooting and everyone hit above the benchmarks.”
The Para athletes will be back at the shooting center in April to continue their pursuit to make the World Cup team.
To learn more about the athletes, visit: www.usashooting.org/12-the-team.
Jason Pepper broke his own PR in 10m air rifle visually impaired. Steve Holbert broke his. own personal record in the 10m prone air rifle R3 at the first 2022 Para National Team selection camp. Madison Champion broke her own personal record in 10m air rifle SH2 R5 at the first 2022 Para National Team Selection camp.