Storming back at Tenoroc
Doug Koenig has been called the finest all-around professional shooter in the world. The Alburtis, Pa., marksman competed in all five Great Outdoor Games Rifle events, medaling each year— except last year, when he finished fourth. Now, he aims to storm back with vengeance. Looking forward to this weekend, "living it, thinking it, sleeping it," Koenig has shot between 2,000 and 3,000 practice rounds during the last three weeks. So who does he believe will win the Games' Rifle event on Saturday at Tenoroc Shooting Sports and Training Facility?
"Whoever has worked the hardest and has the best luck," said Koenig. The Rifle event begins at 3:30 p.m. Admission is free.
Army invasion
The U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit has produced some of the best shooters in the world: Olympic champions, World Cup and world championship winners and world record holders. This year, two Army marksmen will take a shot at ESPN's Great Outdoor Games gold.
Sgt. Ryan Hadden and Sgt. 1st Class Shawn Dulohery are newcomers to the Games, but are forces to be reckoned with. Hadden holds two national trapshooting titles. Dulohery— a 16-year veteran of the U.S. Shooting Team —represented America at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. "We have fun, but when it comes down to crunch time, we're all business," Hadden said.
Both compete in the Shotgun event, which begins Friday at 8:30 p.m. at Tenoroc.
Buddies? What buddies?
They became friends in third grade, encouraged each other to get involved in a national youth shotgun league called the Scholastic Clay Target Program, advanced together in their sport and helped their Burleson, Texas, team win championships. But all that buddy-buddy stuff stops here. With a $10,000 first-place purse on the line, two of America's top young shooters, Travis Mears and Jake Montgomery, both 18, will square off Friday evening in the Shotgun event at Tenoroc.
Finding the ATV advantage
The winner of the holeshot — the first person to the first corner at the start of a race — will have a big advantage in winning the Games' inaugural Four Wheel Frenzy Saturday evening.
"The course is pretty tight," said five-time GNCC quad champion Bill Ballance of Smith Grove, Ky., after Thursday's practice sessions. "There are really just two spots on the track to pass. That will make it difficult."
The challenging track means the first ATV into the tight, right-handed chicane will earn a jump on the rest of the field.
"We wanted it that way," event organizer Tes Sewell said of the first corner. "We don't want everybody bunched up at the water jump."
The Games' ATV track features tight hairpin turns, a man-made wooden jump over a pond, a rough section termed the "Bomb Field" and plenty of whoop-de-doos.
"That's the key," Kory Ellis of California says of the holeshot. "Anyone can win it, the field is so close. Like all races, you have to give it your best shot."
The lack of a long straight or a sweeping corner — the bikes will never be at full power — gives more technical riders a chance to make moves, says series rookie Giovanni Colon, who recently moved from Puerto Rico to Orlando to compete on the circuit full time. "I think that's a heavy factor,'' he said. "Those more technical on their quad will do extremely well."
Four Wheel Frenzy finals begin Saturday at 8:30 p.m. at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex.
Agility seeds for finals tonight
Defending gold medalist border collie Juice and handler Marcus Topps of Garland, Texas, took their first steps toward a repeat victory in the Games' Agility large division event by leading the afternoon's qualifying round. A fast time gave the team the preferred top seed in tonight's first round of competition, which establishes the seeding order for the finals, scheduled for 9:30 tonight. The top-seeded dog runs the agility course last.
In the Agility small division, last year's silver medalist team, Karen Holik of West Chicago, Ill., and Shetland sheepdog Sizzle, led the way in the qualifying round. The gold medalists in 2004, Renee King of Rosenberg, Texas, and her Jack Russell terrier Hamlet, finished fifth.
Sentimental favorite Barb Davis of Newman Lake, Wash., and her dog Shimmer were third in the small division qualifier. The duo has scored five silver medals in the five previous years of the Great Outdoor Games, and the 10-year-old Shetland sheepdog will retire from competition after this year's event.
The Games will be aired on ESPN and ABC Sports July 13-17, 2005. Click here for the broadcast schedule.
