COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The 2013 Warrior Games Marine shooting team has been on fire four years in a row, living up to their motto, every Marine a rifleman.
The Marines won 13 of the 24 medals awarded during the shooting competition, bringing the team one step closer to wining the Chairman's Cup during the Warrior Games aboard the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. , May 13.
"I’m happy because so many of the Marines motivated each other to medal," said Marine veteran Master Sgt. Dionisios H. Nicholas, from Mililani Town, Hawaii. "That's what its all about, winning side-by-side with our brothers and sisters."
The competition was close, especially for Marine veterans Gunnery Sgt. Pedro Aquino and Cpl. Angel Gomez, who competed against each other in a shoot out. Aquino, from Hawthorne, Calif., won by 0.1 over his teammate in the upper body disability prone air rifle shoot out to take the gold. He also won a bronze medal in the upper body disability standing air rifle competition. Gomez, 28, from Visalia, Calif., placed second, winning silver in the upper body disability prone air rifle competition and silver in the upper body disability standing air rifle competition.
Maj. John T. Schwent Jr., the head shooting coach of the Marine team said a shooting victory is significant to his team because the Marines trained hard, and the medals prove it.
Lance Cpl. Richard "Jake" Stalder, with WWBn.-West, won a gold medal in the upper body disability standing air rifle competition.
Nicholas won gold a gold medal in lower body disability air rifle and a silver medal in the lower disability air pistol competition.
Marine veteran Sgt. Brian Riley, from Oshkosh, Wis., won a bronze medal in the lower body disability air rifle competition.
Lance Cpl. Artem Lazukin, from Portland, Ore., and with WWBn.-West won a silver medal in the lower body disability standing air rifle competition.
Marine veteran Sgt. Joey Smith, from Shelby, N.C., won a bronze medal in the lower body disability standing air rifle competition.
Staff Sgt. Phillip Shockley, from Augusta, Ga., and with Wounded Warrior Battalion East, won a gold medal in the open air pistol competition.
Sgt. Clayton McDaniel, from Molalla, Ore., and with WWBn.-West, won a bronze medal in the open air rifle competition.
Marine veteran Cpl. Luke Prentice, from Chicago, won a silver medal in the open air rifle competition.