Richmonder Earns Spot on US National Rifle Team

The Richmond Times Dispatch reports that Hannah Black, a 20-year-old Richmond resident earned a berth on the U.S. National Rifle Team earlier this month, moving a step closer to the 2016 Summer Olympics by winning the 50-meter three-position smallbore competition at an elite match hosted by USA Shooting.

She did so with a display of pressure marksmanship that even Annie Oakley would have admired. Black, a Texas Christian University junior, scored 591 of a possible 600 points on the second day — the finals — of the two-day meet. She set a U.S. record and missed the world record by one point.

Black said her second-day performance at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs “just seemed to fly by.”

Black, who was home-schooled, credits her success in the sport to the time she spent in dance classes during her high school years. 

Dance, she said, enhanced her physical arsenal by improving not only her balance but also her flexibility and core strength — key assets in a sport in which a nerve twitch or muscle tremor can spoil a shot.

She led TCU in aggregate scoring (smallbore and air rifle) at the 2014 NCAA championships.  VSSA wishes Hannah much success as she continues on the road to the 2016 Olympics.