SNRE student wins international rifle competition

Sagen Maddalena UAF photo by J.R. Ancheta

Sagen Maddalena is a senior natural resources management student at UAF. She is studying forest management.

By Nona Letuligasenoa
On Friday, Alaska rifle's redshirt-junior Sagen Maddalena completed her final day of competition in Europe, being one of five members to represent Team USA in the women's air rifle discipline in both the Meyton Cup in Innsbruck, Austria, and the IWK Hochbrueck in Munich, Germany. Maddalena was named the champion in Monday's Meyton Cup before placing in the top 35 at the IWK on Friday.

On Monday, Maddalena shot a 417.3 in the qualifying round of the Meyton Cup to place fourth overall in a pool of 35 international shooters. Only eight shooters would advance to the final round out of the 35, with Team USA taking three of those eight slots.

In the single-elimination final round, Maddalena shot a 10.1 or higher in each of her 14 individual shots to tally a 249.0 total, taking first place over her teammate Emily Smith, who registered a 246.5. The Alaska rifle co-captain's score of 249.0 broke the Cup's previous record of 211.0 from Yi Siling from July 3, 2014 and also marks Maddalena's first individual senior international title.

After her big win, Maddalena and the rest of Team USA traveled to Munich to compete in the women's air rifle portion of the IWK Hochbrueck early Friday morning. In a field of 98 international shooters, Maddalena placed 34th overall with a score of 414.5, with each of her four shots being 102.5 or higher. Maddalena placed third among her Team USA teammates, with Nikola Mazurova from the Czech Republic taking first overall with an aggregate score of 419.9.

Maddalena will return to Fairbanks to continue the 2016-17 season with the Alaska Nanooks rifle team, with their next competition being held at the University of Nebraska on Thursday, Feb. 2.
Letuligasenoa is the sports information director for UAF.