Trap Finishes Eighth, 9th at Pan American Games; U.S. Leads Rapid Fire & Sport Pistol

Myles Walker, Elkhorn, Wisconsin
Myles Walker, Elkhorn, Wisconsin
USA Shooting
USA Shooting

TORONTO –-(Ammoland.com)- The third day of shooting competition at the Pan American Games wrapped with U.S. team athletes Jake Wallace (Castaic, California) and Myles Walker (Elkhorn, Wisconsin, pictured) finishing in eighth and ninth place respectively in Men’s Trap at the Pan Am Shooting Center.

Wallace and Walker each hit 111/125 targets each – just two targets out of qualifying for the Semifinal. Francisco Boza Dibos of Peru won the gold medal and the Olympic quota in the event. Fernando Borello of Argentina won silver and Danilo Caro Guarnieri of Columbia won the bronze medal.

Men’s Rapid Fire competition started today with reigning Pan American Games champion Emil Milev (Temple Terrace, Florida) taking the lead with a score of 293 following Stage 1. Brad Balsley (Uniontown, Pennsylvania/U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit) is currently in fifth place with a score of 286. Stage 2 and Finals will take place tomorrow.

Women’s Sport Pistol also started their first stage today (Precision) with National Champion and first-time Pan American Games team member Brenda Silva (Snowflake, Arizona) taking the lead by three points with a score of 291. 2011 Pan American Games silver medalist Sandra Uptagrafft (Phenix City, Alabama) currently sits in fourth place with a score of 285. Uptagrafft also won gold in this event at the 2003 and 2007 Pan American Games.

“It went as I wanted it to,” Silva said. “The range conditions are beautiful and I just did what I’ve been training to do so everything went as expected. I hope I’ll be just as good or better tomorrow.”

One Olympic quota each is available in Men’s Rapid Fire and Women’s Sport Pistol. The U.S. has yet to win a Sport Pistol quota, however, has one Men’s Rapid Fire quota due to Keith Sanderson’s (Colorado Springs, Colorado) silver-medal finish at World Cup Munich.

Yesterday the U.S. Pan American shooting team picked up four medals (one gold, one silver and two bronze) in Men’s Air Rifle (gold, bronze) and Women’s Trap (silver, bronze). Gold medalist Connor Davis (Shelbyville, Kentucky) also won an Olympic quota for the U.S. in Men’s Air Rifle with his win. Jay Shi (Phoenix, Arizona) also won silver in Men’s Air Pistol to bring the shooting team medal total to five.

Competition continues tomorrow with Stage 2 for Men’s Rapid Fire Pistol at 9:00 a.m. ET and the Rapid Fire Stage of Women’s Sport Pistol at 12:30 p.m. with Finals and medals to be awarded in both events later in the day. Follow along for live updates from the Pan American Games on facebook and twitter. Start lists and results are also available on the Toronto 2015 website.