Rifle alumnus wins gold at 2019 Pan Am Games
August 2, 2019
Former Alaska Nanook Tim Sherry made international headlines Tuesday, earning a gold medal in the men’s 50-meter three-position shooting event at the Las Palmas Air Base at the 2019 Pan American Games.
Sherry shot an 1181 in the three-position event’s qualifying round, 13 points ahead of his next competitor, to rank first overall heading into the finals. Sherry’s 397 while in the kneeling position largely helped him take the lead in the qualifying round, as it ranked 9 points better than any of the other eventual finalists.
Down 4.1 to USA teammate Michael McPhail after prone in the finals, Sherry disintegrated that lead to only 1.0 after the first five-shot series. Sherry took a 1.0 lead after the next five-shot series in standing, eventually taking the gold with a 1.9 lead over second place.
Team USA took the gold and silver medal, followed by Mexico’s Jose Luis Sanchez, who took home the bronze.
Sherry will compete in the men’s 10-meter air rifle event on Friday, Aug. 2, before participating in the mixed 10-meter air rifle event on Saturday, Aug. 3.
The 2019 Pan American Games is a multisport event behind held in Lima, Peru, from July 26 through Aug. 11. The games include 419 events in 39 different sports with 41 nations competing. The United States has the highest number of athletes in this year’s Games at 643.
Sherry was a member of the Alaska Nanooks coed rifle team from 2012-2016, earning an individual national championship title in 2014 in smallbore. Sherry, a nine-time All-American, represented Alaska at three consecutive NCAA Rifle National Championships from 2014-2016.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks rifle team and their alumni, follow @NanooksRifle on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks Rifle team page on Facebook.