RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — Former University of Kentucky rifle standout Amy Sowash claimed a silver medal in women?s 10-meter air rifle at the 2007 Pan American Games, held at the Deodoro Sports Complex in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
?I am very proud of Amy,? Kentucky head coach Harry Mullins said. ?She has come a long way during her shooting career. Her preliminary score of 394 is equal to her personal best in major-match competition. To perform on a high stage at the Pan Am Games with that score is a great accomplishment for her, even though she would tell me that she still has more to give. I think that we will see some great things from her in the up and coming years.?
Sowash, who graduated in May after a stellar four-year career with the Wildcat rifle team, has been training and competing during the summer at the US National Team headquarters in Colorado. Sowash, a Richmond, Ky. native, posted a personal best 394 score in the preliminaries, tying for first place in the women?s air rifle division before eventually falling in the tie break. Tied with Eglis Cruz (Cuba) and Sharon Bowes (Canada) after the preliminaries, Sowash posted a final round score of 100.4, while Cruz notched the Gold medal with a 102.1.
?For Amy to compete at this level and have such success, it really shows what a bright future she has,? Mullins said. ?Having just graduated and now focusing on shooting will give her the needed time to work out some of the small bugs which will hopefully get her to the top of her game. I am very proud and very happy for her. She puts in a tremendous effort into her performances and really spends countless hours training. She has been a joy to have on the team for the past four years. Her work ethic and effort she put in will be missed in the upcoming years but I feel that she has sparked some of the younger shooters to follow in her footsteps in regards to work ethic.
?This is well deserved for all the work she has done this year. She will continue to train at the Olympic training center as a resident for the coming year and work towards meeting some of her goals. It is very exciting to see one of our athletes move to the next level of their game. So many times in our sport we see their careers come to a close at the end of college, yet to se her move to the next level brings a lot of joy to our program.?
