USAMU Soldier wins Silver Medal, Ladies' Olympic Quota Slot
Posted: Fri May 12, 2006 7:14 am
By USA Shooting & U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit
KERRVILLE, Texas – In some extremely windy conditions out at the Hill Country Shooting Sports Center May 10, Sgt. 1st Class Theresa E. DeWitt of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit of Fort Benning, Ga., battled through to win the Silver Medal in Women’s Trap at the World Cup USA. DeWitt also secured a country Olympic quota spot with her second-place finish.
“When it is this windy, it takes a lot of effort just to stay focused on your game plan,” DeWitt said after the match. “I think that shooting the spring selection match last month definitely helped me prepare for these conditions. I knew what to expect and was able to concentrate on getting the job done.”
China’s Mei Zhu clinched the Gold Medal with a 72 qualifying score and a 17 in the final, for an 89 total score. DeWitt finished with a 71 qualifying and a 17 in the final with an 88, while Susanne Kiermayer of Germany took the Bronze Medal, shooting a 66 qualifying score and a 20 in the final for an 86.
Sgt. 1st Class Joetta R. Dement, also of the USAMU, finished in sixth place after beating out three other shooters just to get in the final. Dement shot a 65 qualifying and a 12 in the final for a 77 total score. The USA’s other finisher, Lacy Sullivan, shot a 63 to finish in 17th place.
Men’s Trap will wrap up the World Cup USA today with the six-person final scheduled for about 4:30 p.m. Currently, Spain’s Jesus Serrano is in the lead with 49 out of 50. The USA’s Dominic P. Grazioli, an Air Force major, is leading the American shooters in 24th place with a 46.
DeWitt’s last individual medal came in 1999 in Lonato, Italy, when she won the Silver Medal in |Women’s Double Trap.
“This was a long-time coming,” DeWitt, 43, said. “And it makes it just that much sweeter winning a country quota spot for the next Olympic Games.”
Raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, DeWitt graduated from McAuley High School of Cincinnati in 1981 before continuing her education at Ohio State University where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in wildlife management in 1985.
She took up shooting American-style trap as a hobby in 1988 while looking for her first post-college job. But she said she found such jobs, at least on a full-time basis, hard to come by. Later that year, she shifted to international style – the Olympic style where the targets are thrown much faster and at much sharper angles than American-style trap.
DeWitt said she found she was good at her new hobby and decided to ensue it more seriously. She hit the competition circuit. During her travels she met members of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit and was impressed with what she saw.
With what she heard from the Army team, DeWitt knew there was something special at Fort Benning, and the hopes of traveling the world circuit and someday, perhaps, making the Olympic team could become reality. In 1991 she put her mind to it and enlisted in the Army.
“The Army provides me the equipment to train and the opportunity to compete at the national and world levels necessary to become a champion and an Olympian,” DeWitt said. “It’s a great opportunity.”
DeWitt joined the Army in 1991 and was assigned to the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit at Fort Benning after she completed Basic Training and Military Police School at Fort McClellan, Ala. She competed in Women’s Double Trap in the 1996 Olympics, finishing in fourth place and missing the medal by one point.
After winning the title of the 1996 Army Female Athlete of the Year, DeWitt was named 1996 Armed Forces Female Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Military Sports Association. She was honored by McAuley at “Terri DeWitt Day” and other festivities at the school was honored by her hometown with a parade where she received the key to the city in 1996.
Besides being the only 1996 Olympic shooter to be photographed by world-famous photographer Annie Leibovitz for the 1996 official Olympics book, DeWitt was also honored by President Bill Clinton at the White House in 1996.
DeWitt said her short-term goal is to bring home an Olympic Gold Medal and her long-term goal is to stay in the Army and reach the rank of sergeant major. She and her husband, Bob, a former USAMU gunsmith, live in Smiths, Ala.
(Formed in 1956 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to raise the standards of marksmanship throughout the U.S. Army, the Army Marksmanship Unit is assigned to the Accessions Support Brigade of the U.S. Army Accessions Command. The Marksmanship Unit trains its Soldiers to win competitions and enhances combat readiness through train-the-trainer clinics, research and development. For more information on the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, contact the Public Affairs Office at (706) 545-5436, paula.pagan@usaac.army.mil or http://www.usarec.army.mil/hq/amu/. USA Shooting is recognized by the U.S. Olympic Committee and the International Shooting Sport Federation as the national governing body for the Olympic and international shooting sports in the United States. For more information on USA Shooting, contact media director Sara John at (719) 866-4896, sara.greenlee@usashooting.org or http://www.usashooting.com.)
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KERRVILLE, Texas – In some extremely windy conditions out at the Hill Country Shooting Sports Center May 10, Sgt. 1st Class Theresa E. DeWitt of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit of Fort Benning, Ga., battled through to win the Silver Medal in Women’s Trap at the World Cup USA. DeWitt also secured a country Olympic quota spot with her second-place finish.
“When it is this windy, it takes a lot of effort just to stay focused on your game plan,” DeWitt said after the match. “I think that shooting the spring selection match last month definitely helped me prepare for these conditions. I knew what to expect and was able to concentrate on getting the job done.”
China’s Mei Zhu clinched the Gold Medal with a 72 qualifying score and a 17 in the final, for an 89 total score. DeWitt finished with a 71 qualifying and a 17 in the final with an 88, while Susanne Kiermayer of Germany took the Bronze Medal, shooting a 66 qualifying score and a 20 in the final for an 86.
Sgt. 1st Class Joetta R. Dement, also of the USAMU, finished in sixth place after beating out three other shooters just to get in the final. Dement shot a 65 qualifying and a 12 in the final for a 77 total score. The USA’s other finisher, Lacy Sullivan, shot a 63 to finish in 17th place.
Men’s Trap will wrap up the World Cup USA today with the six-person final scheduled for about 4:30 p.m. Currently, Spain’s Jesus Serrano is in the lead with 49 out of 50. The USA’s Dominic P. Grazioli, an Air Force major, is leading the American shooters in 24th place with a 46.
DeWitt’s last individual medal came in 1999 in Lonato, Italy, when she won the Silver Medal in |Women’s Double Trap.
“This was a long-time coming,” DeWitt, 43, said. “And it makes it just that much sweeter winning a country quota spot for the next Olympic Games.”
Raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, DeWitt graduated from McAuley High School of Cincinnati in 1981 before continuing her education at Ohio State University where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in wildlife management in 1985.
She took up shooting American-style trap as a hobby in 1988 while looking for her first post-college job. But she said she found such jobs, at least on a full-time basis, hard to come by. Later that year, she shifted to international style – the Olympic style where the targets are thrown much faster and at much sharper angles than American-style trap.
DeWitt said she found she was good at her new hobby and decided to ensue it more seriously. She hit the competition circuit. During her travels she met members of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit and was impressed with what she saw.
With what she heard from the Army team, DeWitt knew there was something special at Fort Benning, and the hopes of traveling the world circuit and someday, perhaps, making the Olympic team could become reality. In 1991 she put her mind to it and enlisted in the Army.
“The Army provides me the equipment to train and the opportunity to compete at the national and world levels necessary to become a champion and an Olympian,” DeWitt said. “It’s a great opportunity.”
DeWitt joined the Army in 1991 and was assigned to the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit at Fort Benning after she completed Basic Training and Military Police School at Fort McClellan, Ala. She competed in Women’s Double Trap in the 1996 Olympics, finishing in fourth place and missing the medal by one point.
After winning the title of the 1996 Army Female Athlete of the Year, DeWitt was named 1996 Armed Forces Female Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Military Sports Association. She was honored by McAuley at “Terri DeWitt Day” and other festivities at the school was honored by her hometown with a parade where she received the key to the city in 1996.
Besides being the only 1996 Olympic shooter to be photographed by world-famous photographer Annie Leibovitz for the 1996 official Olympics book, DeWitt was also honored by President Bill Clinton at the White House in 1996.
DeWitt said her short-term goal is to bring home an Olympic Gold Medal and her long-term goal is to stay in the Army and reach the rank of sergeant major. She and her husband, Bob, a former USAMU gunsmith, live in Smiths, Ala.
(Formed in 1956 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to raise the standards of marksmanship throughout the U.S. Army, the Army Marksmanship Unit is assigned to the Accessions Support Brigade of the U.S. Army Accessions Command. The Marksmanship Unit trains its Soldiers to win competitions and enhances combat readiness through train-the-trainer clinics, research and development. For more information on the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, contact the Public Affairs Office at (706) 545-5436, paula.pagan@usaac.army.mil or http://www.usarec.army.mil/hq/amu/. USA Shooting is recognized by the U.S. Olympic Committee and the International Shooting Sport Federation as the national governing body for the Olympic and international shooting sports in the United States. For more information on USA Shooting, contact media director Sara John at (719) 866-4896, sara.greenlee@usashooting.org or http://www.usashooting.com.)
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