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| 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.
