Post date: May 16, 2014 11:25:14 AM
By Tim O’Donnell TODONNELL@NEWSMINER.COM
FAIRBANKS — Sagen Maddalena and Ryan Anderson aren’t going to be spending their summers resting up for next season. Instead, the two Alaska Nanooks rifle shooters will compete around the world.
The duo qualified for the 51st International Shooting Sport Federation World Championship by finishing in the top three in air rifle at the 2014 USA Shooting Rifle/Pistol World Championships Selection match Wednesday.
“It’s going to be huge for their confidence and for experience,” Nanooks head coach Dan Jordan said in a University of Alaska Fairbanks press release. “Once you go compete at the World Championship and a bunch of World Cups, it really helps you move in and gives you a lot of experience mentally, pressure-wise. It’s really going to elevate both of their shooting because once you make the world stage, that’s what you start expecting.”
Maddalena, who has yet to shoot a collegiate match after redshirting last season as a freshman, sat in fourth place in the three-day, women’s 20-meter air rifle match after the first day. But top qualifying scores on days two and three and a fifth-place finish in the final on day two, helped push her into second overall.
The Groveland, California, native’s final score of 1256.5 was just three-tenths of a point behind former Texas Christian University shooter and NCAA air rifle and smallbore champion Sarah Beard. Beard finished at 1256.8.
2012 Olympian Sarah Scherer finished 2.7 points behind Maddalena at 1253.8.
“To have the top-2 on the last two days is amazing and her last day was a world-class score that she’d have a chance of making finals with (at a world event),” Jordan said. “She has the mentality and ability, so now it’s just about getting the experience. She’s sitting really well to do pretty well the next few years.”
Anderson, the junior All-American from Great Falls, Virginia, finished in a tie for third place in 10-meter air gun event and was forced to go to a 20-shot shoot-off with Bryant Wallizer.
After the 20 shots, Anderson emerged with a two point win (206.7-204.7) to secure the final spot for the World Championship. Kentucky’s Connor Davis won the event with former Nevada shooter Dempster Christenson taking second.
“Ryan struggled a little bit with not feeling real good about his shooting but to come back in a shoot-off like that and be able to perform says a lot about his mental fortitude and having the mental strength to make it through that high-pressure situation,” Jordan said. “That’s a huge confidence booster for him going forward.”
Outgoing Nanooks senior Mike Liuzza finished 13th in the men’s air rifle match.
Maddalena and Andeson are scheduled to compete with Team USA at the ISSF World Cup Munich on June 4-13 in Germany, the ISSF World Cup Maribor on June 13-21 in Slovenia and 1st Grand Prix International CEAR Juan Carlos on July 16-20 in Granada, Spain.
The World Championship takes place Sept. 6-20 in Granada.
Anderson and Liuzza are scheduled to shoot in the men’s prone match, which began on Thursday and runs through Saturday. Those two will be joined by sophomore and NCAA smallbore champion Tim Sherry in the three-position, smallbore match on Tuesday through Thursday.