Having shot a sub-par set of 12 gauge events yesterday, I was determined to shine in the 20gauge event on my fourth day of competition. During the mini’s I had a not-so-great 20 gauge round and it’s the gauge I practice the most.
The weather was a carbon copy of yesterday and the day before – clear skies, wind, mid-to-upper 80’s. My squad was the same one from the 12 gauge event and will be the same until I finish on Thursday (day 6). Steve and Charlie from Arizona, Nole and Terry. I was shooting in the second position, right behind Steve, our squad leader.
The first box (25 targets) I shot a 23. Not terrible, but I needed to stop missing targets if I wanted to make a medal spot (top 3 shooters). The second box went much better – 25 out of 25. The third box was a 24 after I missed the first bird – high one single. And I finished with a 25. 23-25-24-25 = 97. I had thought for sure that my 97 would stand up for a second or third place finish – boy was I wrong. Three other shooters had better scores as can be seen in the concurrent score report below. This wouldn’t be the last time that I finished fourth by such a slim margin.
