Photo By Lt. Col. Michelle Lunato | Top competitors from across the United States competed in USA Shooting's Part 2 50m...... read more read more
FORT BENNING, Ga. – Part 2 of the USA Shooting 50m Smallbore Olympic Trials concluded yesterday with two U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit Soldiers earning spots on Team USA, making the total of Olympians from the unit five.
Spc. Sagen Maddalena, a Groveland, California native with the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, earned her ticket to the Tokyo Olympic Games with a combined Trials score of 4704-245x, putting her second behind Mary Tucker’s (of University of Kentucky) 4706-242x.
After Part 1 of the Olympic Trials, Maddalena sat in fourth behind 2016 Gold Medalist Ginny Thrasher, Rachel McCollum and Tucker. After Part 2 of the Trials, the women’s leader board shifted, leaving Thrasher and Malori Brown as the Olympic Alternates since Tucker and Maddalena claimed the two Olympic berths.
In February 2020, Tucker and Maddalena competed side by side in the 10m Air Rifle Trials. Tucker claimed an Olympic berth there as well, and Maddalena was named an Olympic Alternate, along with fellow USAMU teammate, U.S. Army Reserve 1st Lt. Sarah Beard. The other Air Rifle Olympic spot went to Alison Weisz, who later joined the U.S. Army with a direct appointment to the USAMU’s International Rifle Team. Now, as a Soldier, she is Spc. Alison Weisz, and technically, was the USAMU’s first qualified Olympian for the 2020/1 Games.
For the Men’s Smallbore Team, Sgt. Patrick Sunderman, a Farmington, Minnesota native who is also with the USAMU, seized a ticket to Tokyo with a combined score of 4706-249x. Following behind him with a 4698-245x, was U.S. Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Nick Mowrer, who is part of the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program.
Mowrer, like Tucker, had already earned an Olympic berth in 2020, but his first ticket came from the Air Pistol Trials. That makes this U.S. Army Reserve Soldier, the first U.S. shooting athlete to make an Olympic Team in both disciplines.
The Olympic Alternates for the Men’s 50m Smallbore event are U.S. Air Force Academy’s Peter Fiori and USAMU’s Sgt. Tim Sherry, whose final scores were only one and three points away from Mowrer’s final score, which made for an exciting Finals.
The other two USAMU Soldiers qualified for the Olympics are Sgt. Phillip Jungman, a Caldwell, Texas native, and U.S. Army Reserve 1st Lt. Amber English. Both Jungman and English will represent the USA in the Skeet event and qualified at those Olympic Trials in March 2020.
The Smallbore Trials were the last outstanding event for the USAMU Soldiers who now have five qualified athletes headed to Tokyo. There are also six Soldiers named as Olympic Alternates. The complete list of Soldiers and their Olympic event/status is below.
Soldier Event Olympic Status
1st Lt. Amber English* / Women’s Skeet Olympian
Sgt. Phillip Jungman / Men’s Skeet Olympian
Sgt. Patrick Sunderman / Men’s 50m Smallbore Olympian
Spc. Alison Weisz / Women’s 10m Air Rifle Olympian
Spc. Sagen Maddalena / Women’s 50m Smallbore Olympian
Spc. Sagen Maddalena / Women’s 10m Air Rifle Olympic Alternate
1st Lt. Sarah Beard* / Women’s 10m Air Rifle Olympic Alternate
Sgt. Tim Sherry / Men’s 50m Smallbore Olympic Alternate
Staff Sgt. Seth Inman / Men’s Trap Olympic Alternate
Sgt. Rachel Tozier / Women’s Trap Olympic Alternate
Staff Sgt. Hayden Stewart / Men’s Skeet /Olympic Alternate
* These Soldiers are U.S. Army Reserve Soldiers assigned the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program and attached to the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit for training.
Not included in the list above are Staff Sgt. Nick Mowrer and Staff Sgt. Sandra Uptagrafft. Both of the U.S. Army Reserve Soldiers are part of the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program and qualified to compete for Team USA in Tokyo. Mowrer will compete in both Men's Air Pistol and Men's 50m Smallbore Rifle. Uptagrafft will compete in Women's 25m Sport Pistol.
Still outstanding are the Paralympic Trials and the USAMU has one Soldier seeking a spot on that team, Staff Sgt. Kevin Nguyen. Those Trials will happen in June.
To see photographs from the various trials, and the Soldiers mentioned above, go to the USAMU’s Flickr page at https://www.flickr.com/photos/usamu/albums. High resolution b-roll can be found on the Flickr page, but also on the unit’s DVIDS page as well https://www.dvidshub.net/unit/USA-MU.
To arrange for interviews with the Soldiers, please email the USAMU Public Affairs office at michelle.lunato2.civ@mail.mil.
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The U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit wins national and international shooting competitions, supports Army accessions, and advances small arms lethality to demonstrate Army marksmanship capability, enhance recruiting and increase marksmanship effectiveness in combat. USAMU is part of the U.S. Army Marketing Engagement Brigade and the U.S. Army Recruiting Command.
| Date Taken: | 05.26.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 06.02.2021 09:33 |
| Story ID: | 397700 |
| Location: | FORT BENNING, GA, US |
| Hometown: | FARMINGTON, MN, US |
| Hometown: | GROVELAND, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 413 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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