Dec. 6, 2011
FORT WORTH, Texas - The TCU rifle team sent five members (Sarah
Scherer, Sarah Beard,
Jaime Dowd,
Catherine Green and
Claudia Duksa) to the first part of the Olympic Team Air Rifle Tryouts this past weekend. Scherer left the two-day event tied for first place with Olympian Emily Caruso.
Scherer got off to a fantastic start in her bid for one of two spots on the Air Rifle Olympic team. She is currently tied with two-time Olympian Emily Caruso atop the leader board after shooting an aggregate score of 898 (two qualification round totals plus the best final round).
On day one, Scherer was in fourth place after shooting a 395 in the qualification round. In the finals, she moved up to second, firing a 104.0. She rebounded to take home top spot on day two with an impressive score of 399. Scherer held on to the top spot after shooting a 103.8 in the finals.
Beard also put forth a strong showing at the tryouts as she sits in 10th place after two rounds. She fired a 386 on day one and qualified for the finals on day two after shooting a 394. The score was tied with three others for eight, but the junior earned a spot in the final, winning the shoot-off by .1 of a point over former Horned Frog Erin Lorenzen. In the finals, Beard shot a 102.5 to finish seventh overall.
Dowd fired a two-day total of 776 (387 day one; 389 day two) and sits in 23rd place. Duksa rounds out the top 25 after shooting a two-day total of 775 (386 day one; 389 day two). Green shot a two-day total of 771 (383 day one, 388 day two) and is 31st. In total 55 shooters participated in the tryouts.
At the completion of the 2010 and 2011 World Cup seasons, the USA Shooting Team won two Women's 10m Air Rifle quotas, two Men's 10m Air Rifle quotas and two Men's 10m Air Pistol quotas. These valuable quotas determine the number of athletes that will represent the USA in the 2012 Olympic Games. The scores from the first part will be combined with those of the second part, which will be held the CMP's North Marksmanship Center in Camp Perry, Ohio from Feb. 22-25. Olympic Team selection will be based on the aggregate of four courses of fire and two best finals.
