Abeln On Top After First Day Of Sport Pistol JO's

[USA Shooting]

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Abeln Wins Women’s Sport Pistol at National Junior Olympic Shooting Championships

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (April 21, 2017)
The National Junior Olympic Shooting Championships (NJOSC) kicked off its final week of competition at the U.S. Olympic Training Center with the Women’s Sport Pistol competition.

Taking gold in the event today by the slimmest margin thus far at NJOSC was 16-year-old Katelyn Abeln (Douglasville, Georgia).

“My match started off a little rough, my beginning string in both Precision and Rapid were kind of iffy and it took me a while to get into it,” Abeln said. “It eventually turned out well. It wasn’t the score I hoped for, but it was good learning experience – like matches are supposed to be. I was trying to dress up that perfect shot throughout the match and even through the Final. I caught myself doing it! I guess I just need to not worry about what’s at stake or what’s going on and just shoot like I do in training.”

Taking NJOSC silver today was last year’s champion Carson Saabye (Larkspur, California) and bronze went to Sarah Choe (Los Angeles, California).

While Abeln locked down NJSOC gold today, interested competitors will shoot another Qualification match and Final tomorrow (with those scores added to today’s Qualification score) to determine the two athletes who will be invited to the USA Shooting Team for the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Junior World Championship later this summer in Suhl, Germany.

Winning gold in the J2 age category was Abbie Leverett (Bainbridge, Georgia). Silver went to Maria Tsarik (Lake Bluff, Illinois) and bronze went to Yulong Jones (Germantown, Maryland). In the J3 age category, Angela Yi (Diamond Bar, California) won gold and Kaytlin Haiby (Blackduck, Minnesota) won silver.

Men’s Air Pistol also began its first of two days of Qualification. Jack Leverett III (Bainbridge, Georgia) currently leads with 564 points. Charles Platt (Colorado Springs, Colorado) is just four points back with a score of 560, and Bryston McPherson (Colorado Springs, Colorado) is in third with a score of 558. Athletes will shoot another 60-shot Qualification match tomorrow, along with a Final where the top-eight athletes over the two days will advance.

By the conclusion of NJOSC, more than 790 athletes will have made their way through the U.S. Olympic Training Center to compete in NJOSC competition in 2017. Athletes invited to Colorado Springs comprise the top tier of athletes that competed in a state level events totaling 2,658 competitors. The NJOSC features the top 30 percent of all competitors in 2017 and will feature Invitees that either won their state championship or were selected based on a score they attained. The competitors range in age from 10 to 20 years old, and are classified per age as J1 (ages 18-20), J2 (ages 15-17) or J3 (ages 14 and younger).

Results:

View and download photos from this match: