SHOOTING: Lagan sweeps Winter AirGun Champs and Selection Matches

American pistol ace Lexi Lagan

No rest for the top shooters in the U.S. as the annual USA Shooting Winter AirGun Championships took place at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, with Pistol and Rifle Selection Matches sandwiched around them between 28 November and 5 December.

The Selection Match results selected the U.S. entrants in the 2019 ISSF World Cup in New Delhi (IND), and possibly in Munich (GER) and Beijing (CHN). And nearly 500 athletes were on hand for the Winter AirGun competitions, the largest entry in history.

The big winner was Lexi Lagan, who won everything on offer in the Pistol category: the 25 m Sport Pistol in the Selection Match, all three 10 m Air Pistol events at the Winter AirGun Championships and the final-day team event in Pistol, teaming with James Hall.

The anticipated qualifiers for New Delhi included (based on the Selection Match results):

Men’s Pistol: Jack Leverett III, Henry Leverett, Ryan Yi
Men’s Rifle: Tim Sherry, Nick Mowrer, Dempster Christenson

Women’s Pistol: Lexi Lagan, Sandra Uptagrafft, Katelyn Abeln
Women’s Rifle: Sarah Beard, Ginny Thrasher, Alison Weisz

The New Delhi World Cup is on 20-28 February of 2019; the USA Shooting Spring Selection Matches 25 February-9 March for Shotgun events and 25 March-1 April for Pistol and Rifle. Summaries from Colorado Springs:

USA Shooting Winter AirGun Championships
Colorado Springs, Colorado (USA) ~ 30 November-5 December 2018
(Full results here)

Men

10 m Air Pistol I (finals): 1. James Hall, 236.3; 2. Henry Leverett, 235.3; 3. Jack Leverett III, 211.0; 4. Samuel Gens, 192.4; 5. Hunter Battig, 172.9.

10 m Air Pistol II (total): 1. Nick Mowrer, 1,163; 2. Hall, 1,151; 3. Leverett III, 1,141; 4. Jay Shi, 1,137; 5. Hunter Battig, 1,141.

10 m Air Pistol (Team/Match): 1. Hall, 387; 2. Luke Simon, 382; 3. Mowrer, 382; 4. Leverett III, 381; 5. Battig, 379.

10 m Air Rifle I (finals): 1. Dempster Christenson, 247.7; 2. Lucas Kozeniesky, 247.4; 3. George Norton, 224.9; 4. William Shaner, 205.3; 5. Ivan Roe, 183.9.

10 m Air Rifle II (total): 1. Roe, 1,250.2; 2. Matthew Sanchez, 1,249.2; 3. Timothy Sherry, 1,248.5; 4. George Norton, 1,248.4; 5. Christenson, 1,247.7.

10 m Air Rifle (Team/Match): 1. Christenson, 419.4; 2. Jean-Pierre Lucas, 416.8; 3. Matthew Rawlings, 416.0; 4. Norton, 415.1; 5. Roe, 415.1.

Women

10 m Air Pistol I (finals): 1. Lexi Lagan, 235.2; 2. Sandra Uptagrafft, 234.5; 3. Ada Korkhin, 212.8; 4. Rachel Cantrell, 193.8; 5. Maria Tsarik, 172.6.

10 m Air Pistol II (total): 1. Lagan, 1,154; 2. Uptagrafft, 1,129; 3. Nathalia Tobar, 1,118; 4. Cantrell, 1,113; 5. Tsarik, 1,111.

10 m Air Pistol III (Team/Match): 1. Lagan, 380; 2. Annabell Yi, 375; 3. Tobar, 372; 4. Katelyn Abeln, 371; 5. Kara Petracek, 370.

10 m Air Rifle I (finals): 1. Alison Weisz, 249.5; 2. Sarah Beard, 248.2; 3. Emily Stith, 227.3; 4. Elizabeth Marsh, 204.2; 5. Sagen Maddalena, 183.1.

10 m Air Rifle II (total): 1. Weisz, 1,259.9; 2. Mary Tucker, 1,154.1; 3. Maddalena, 1,253.7; 4. Ginny Thrasher, 1,252.1; 5. Beard, 1,249.4.

10 m Air Rifle III (Team/Match): 1. Maddalena, 419.5; 2. Weisz, 419.0; 3. Stith, 418.4; 4. Beard, 417.6; 5. Thrasher, 417.0.

Team

Pistol: 1. James Hall/Lexi Lagan, 473.8; 2. Jack Leverett III/Katelyn Abeln, 464.4; 3. Nathalia Tobar/Nick Mowrer, 405.8; 4. Luke Simon/Annabell Yi, 358.4; 5. Hunter Battig/Kara Petracek, 315.3.

Rifle: 1. Dempster Christenson/Sagen Maddalena, 495.5; 2. Matthew Rawlings/Emily Stith, 492.6; 3. Sarah Beard/George Norton, 431.6; 4. Alison Weisz/Jean-Pierre Lucas, 389.8; 5. Ginny Thrasher/Ivan Roe, 348.2.

USA Shooting Winter Selection Match
Colorado Springs, Colorado (USA) ~ 26-28 November and 3-5 December, 2018
(Full results here)

Men

25 m Rapid-Fire Pistol: 1. Jack Leverett III, 1,155; 2. Henry Leverett, 1,141; 3. Ryan Yi, 1,095; 4. Nick Mowrer, 1,090; 5. Paul Kang, 1,068.

50 m Rifle/3 Positions: 1. Timothy Sherry, 2,356; 2. Mowrer, 2,348; 3. Dempster Christenson, 2,343; 4. Ivan Roe, 2,336; 5. Lucas Kozeniesky, 2,336.

Women

25 m Sport Pistol: 1. Lexi Lagan, 1,167; 2. Sandra Uptagrafft, 1,153; 3. Katelyn Abeln, 1,144; 4. Kellie Foster, 1,125; 5. Sarah Choe, 1,111.

50 m Rifle/3 Positions: 1. Sarah Beard, 2,364; 2. Ginny Thrasher, 2,332; 3. Alison Weisz, 2,332 (lost shoot-off); 4. Anna Weilbacher, 2,331; 5. Hannah Black, 2,323.