Morgan Craft competes in the women's skeet final at the ISSF World Championship Shotgun on Sept. 13, 2015 in Lonato, Italy.
The U.S. shooting roster for the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games is set after the final round of Olympic Trials wrapped up Sunday.
Some of the 20 athletes are fairly new to the international shooting scene while others have competed around the globe for decades. They come from all walks of life, from Florida to Alaska and Massachusetts to California, and they got into the sport and their disciplines by a myriad of reasons.
They already have a combined 29 Olympic appearances and 13 Olympic medals.
Among the shooters are a cattle rancher, a restaurant owner, an elementary school P.E. teacher, college students and a handful of military service members. Their sights are now set on bringing back gold for Team USA.
Here are the Olympic shooting nominees for Rio:
Pistol
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Will Brown
Event: Air pistol
Olympic Experience: None
Hometown: Twin Falls, Idaho
Shooting Success: Three-time Junior Olympic champion (2009-11) and the national record holder in junior men’s air pistol (585). He won gold at the 2014 Championship of the Americas.
Bet You Didn't Know: Brown comes from a family of shooters — Dan (father), Susan (mother) and Wyatt (brother) — all of whom compete. Will grew up shooting recreationally and hunting with his dad in the nearby Sawtooth Mountains.
Emil Milev
Event: Rapid fire pistol
Olympic Experience: Bulgaria —1992, 1996 (silver), 2000, 2004; Team USA – 2012
Hometown: Temple Terrace, Fla.
Shooting Success: Five-time world cup gold medalist and two-time U.S. champion
Bet You Didn't Know: He is a physical education teacher at Booker T. Washington Elementary in Tampa, Florida.
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Keith Sanderson
Event: Rapid fire pistol
Olympic Experience: 2008, 2012
Hometown: Colorado Springs, Colo.
Shooting Success: Fifth at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and 14th at the London 2012 Olympic Games. In 2009 he won an unprecedented three medals (one gold, one silver, one bronze) in three world cup events.
Bet You Didn't Know: He served eight years in the U.S. Marine Corps before switching to the U.S. Army Reserves.
Enkelejda Shehaj
Event: 25-meter pistol
Olympic Experience: Albania – 1992, 1996
Hometown: Naples, Fla.
Shooting Success: Finished 14th at the 1992 Games and 15th at the 1996 Games, both for Albania. Is the third woman to go 20 or more years between Olympic appearances. Has competed in 12 world cups, with her best finish being fifth in 1999. She also shot air pistol at the 1996 Olympic Games.
Bet You Didn't Know: She owns and operates a restaurant, Olympia Dining, with her husband, Tony Bekurti.
Lydia Paterson
Event: Air Pistol
Olympic Experience: None
Hometown: Kansas City, Kan.
Shooting Success: Silver medalist at the 2013 national championships and 2014 winter airgun champion
Bet You Didn't Know: She began shooting through her local 4-H and made the national team at 16, becoming one of the youngest members ever.
Jay Shi
Event: Free pistol, air pistol
Olympic Experience: None
Hometown: Phoenix, Ariz.
Shooting Success: Bronze medalist at the U.S. championships in 2006 and 2013; silver medalist at the 2015 Pan American Games
Bet You Didn't Know: He and his family moved from Beijing to the United States to receive medical care for an injury to his right eye at age 11. Shi received a degree in computer system engineering from Arizona State in 2004 and works in web application development and software engineering when he’s not training.
Rifle
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Matt Emmons
Event: Three-position rifle
Olympic Experience: 2004 (gold, prone), 2008 (silver, prone), 2012 (bronze, three-position)
Hometown: Browns Mills, N.J.
Shooting Success: Has 44 world cup medals to his name
Bet You Didn't Know: He pitched a perfect game for his high school baseball team in Pemberton, New Jersey. He began shooting competitively after FBI firearms instructor Paul Adamowski invited him to give the sport a try.
David Higgins
Event: Prone
Olympic Experience: None
Hometown: San Clemente, Calif.
Shooting Success: Finished fifth at the 2014 Championship of the Americas. He was the Patriot Rifle Conference champion in college last season.
Bet You Didn't Know: He graduated the U.S. Air Force Academy to become the first cadet-athlete to ever qualify for the Olympic Games.
Lucas Kozeniesky
Event: Air rifle
Olympic Experience: None
Hometown: Fairfax, Va.
Shooting Success: Three-time participant at the USA Shooting Junior Olympics
Bet You Didn't Know: The North Carolina State student began shooting in 2009. He will become the first shooter from NC State to compete at the Olympic Games.
Dan Lowe
Event: Air rifle
Olympic Experience: None
Hometown: Olympia, Wash.
Shooting Success: Bronze medalist in air rifle at 2015 national championships. In 2014, he won silver in prone and bronze in both air and three-position rifle.
Bet You Didn't Know: He’s a specialist in the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit.
Michael McPhail
Event: 50-meter prone
Olympic Experience: 2012
Hometown: Darlington, Wis.
Shooting Success: Finished ninth at 2012 Olympic Games, and has 10 medals in international competition, including two world cup wins in 2015
Bet You Didn't Know: He’s a sergeant first class in the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit who hunts and trains dogs when he’s not on the firing line. He began shooting at age 5 with a BB gun and took up competitive shooting to become a better hunter.
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Sarah Scherer
Event: Air rifle
Olympic Experience: 2012
Hometown: Woburn, Mass.
Shooting Success: Individual and team national champion at TCU. She has a bronze medalist from the 2014 world cup and placed seventh at the London 2012 Games.
Bet You Didn't Know: She retired from the sport to have two back surgeries but returned last year and will retire for good after the Rio Games.
Virginia Thrasher
Event: Three-position rifle, air rifle
Olympic Experience: None
Hometown: Springfield, Va.
Shooting Success: Three-time Virginia state smallbore medalist; led West Virginia to an NCAA team title and was individual champion in smallbore and air rifle
Bet You Didn't Know: She also holds more than 20 USA Shooting and National Rifle Association records and was named the top performer at the NCAA championships last spring.
Shotgun
Corey Cogdell-Unrein
Event: Trap
Olympic Experience: 2008 (bronze), 2012
Hometown: Eagle River, Alaska
Shooting Success: Won six world cup medals in her career and was the 2013 USA Shooting Shotgun Athlete of the Year
Bet You Didn't Know: She began shooting at age 3 with her father and is married to Chicago Bears defensive lineman Mitch Unrein.
Morgan Craft
Event: Skeet
Olympic Experience: None
Hometown: Muncy Valley, Pa.
Shooting Success: Won a world title in 2015; also won a gold medal at the 2016 world cup in Cyprus and was a two-time world cup medalist in 2015. She also won a 2014 national title.
Bet You Didn't Know: She began shooting rifles in 4-H at age 7 and started shooting international skeet at 14. She earned a varsity letter in shooting.
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Glenn Eller
Event: Double trap
Olympic Experience: 2000, 2004, 2008 (gold), 2012
Hometown: Houston, Texas
Shooting Success: In 1996 became the first American to win the British Opening Sporting Clay title. He’s won five world cup gold medals and several silver and bronze medals in international competitions.
Bet You Didn't Know: He’s the first U.S. man in the shotgun discipline to make five Olympic teams in his career. He began shooting at age 8.
Vincent Hancock
Event: Skeet
Olympic Experience: 2008 (gold), 2012 (gold)
Hometown: Eatonton, Ga.
Shooting Success: Only the third athlete to win three men’s skeet world championships, and the first American to do it. His performance at the 2008 Games was an Olympic record. He’s won six world cup gold medals and many other medals in national and international events.
Bet You Didn't Know: He started shooting at a very young age and started competing at 11. He’s the first Olympic skeet shooter to win gold medals in the same event in consecutive Games.
Josh Richmond
Event: Double trap
Olympic Experience: 2012
Hometown: Hillsgrove, Pa.
Shooting Success: A 12-time world cup medalist and two-time world champion
Bet You Didn't Know: His father won Josh his first shotgun at a trap competition when Josh’s mother was pregnant with him. He began shooting at age 5 and competing when he was 11.
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Kim Rhode
Event: Skeet
Olympic Experience: 1996 (gold, double trap), 2000 (bronze, double trap), 2004 (gold, double trap), 2008 (silver, skeet), 2012 (gold, skeet)
Hometown: El Monte, Calif.
Shooting Success: Five-time Olympic medalist, 28-time world cup medalist and 14-time national champion
Bet You Didn't Know: She can become the first Olympian to win a medal on five different continents at the 2016 Rio Games in South America. She’s an honorary lifetime member of the National Rifle Association who also collects 1800s and 1900s first edition children’s books.
Frank Thompson
Event: Skeet
Olympic Experience: 2012
Hometown: Alliance, Neb.
Shooting Success: Competed in 16 world cups and four world championships
Bet You Didn't Know: The Nebraskan cattle rancher began shooting with his father at age 10 and sharpened his skills through the sporting clays programs.
Scott McDonald is a Houston-based freelance writer who has 18 years experience in sports reporting and feature writing. He was named the State Sports Writer of the Year in 2014 by the Texas High School Coaches Association. McDonald is a freelance contributor to TeamUSA.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.
