U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- An Air Force Academy cadet earned a spot on the USA Shooting Team and is scheduled to compete in Rio this summer at the Games of the XXXI Olympiad.
Cadet 2nd Class David Higgins, of San Clemente, California, qualified for the Olympics during the three-day Olympic Team Trials shooting competition April 1-4 at Fort Benning, Georgia.
“It was a great three days, and I was training hard for it,” Higgins said. “It was very intimidating shooting against some of the big guys, but I was just relying on all of the training I’ve had and went out and did my best.”
At the trials, Higgins beat three-time Olympic medalist Matt Emmons in small-bore prone rifle shooting to earn a position on the Olympic team. He earned a total score of 1888.9 to take first place. Emmons took second with 1887.5 points.
As a cadet, Higgins earned two national silver medals in the prone event in 2013. He was the bronze medalist at the 2014 spring selection match and in third-place at the 2014 national junior championships. He also represented the U.S. that year at the world championships in Granada, Spain, taking 24th place in the elimination relay. Earlier this year, he became the Patriot Rifle Conference small-bore champ and an individual qualifier on the National Collegiate Athletic Association national team.
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