Ali Weisz: Olympian

OLYMPIANS MADE HERE

ALI WEISZ QUALIFIES FOR TOKYO

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Years of hard work and dedication made Ole Miss rifle alum Ali Weisz’s dream of making the USA Shooting Team a reality on Sunday as she claimed a spot on the women’s air rifle roster traveling to the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

“I’m very happy for Ali,” said head coach Marsha Beasley. “She’s worked very hard since she graduated in 2017 and it has taken that commitment since doing well at Ole Miss. I was fortunate enough to get to coach her during her senior year. During that time, I got to know Ali and I am obviously very excited to see her make the U.S. Olympic Team. I’m also excited Ole Miss will have an alum representing us at the Olympics.”

Weisz finished second among the nation’s best shooting athletes at the Air Rifle Olympic Trials, Part II held in the United States Olympic & Paralympic Training Center, to secure a spot as one of the top two American women who will represent the United States in Tokyo.

The two-time All-American becomes the first Ole Miss rifle alum to earn an Olympic spot, joining Tony Rosetti as the only former University of Mississippi students to compete for the Stars and Stripes in shooting at the Olympic Games. Rosetti competed at the 1972 Munich Olympics on the shotgun team in trap shooting. rifle is Kentucky freshman Mary Tucker. Tucker had the highest score in both portions of qualifying and finished first in Sunday’s final to lead all with 2513.0 points.

Weisz totaled 2507.7 points combined from Part I (1256.0) of the trials competed in December, and Part II (1250.2) held over the weekend. The Belgrade, Montana, native finished sixth in an eightshooter final round used for additional points in which she added the necessary 1.5 points needed to earn a spot on the national roster.

TCU alum Sarah Beard was right on the heels of Weisz entering the final just 1.7 points back. A fifthplace finish helped Beard cut into the deficit with 2.0 additional points, but it was not quite enough to catch Weisz.

If there was any doubt if nerves would be a factor on the final day of competition, Weisz silenced those worries with nine center shots on her opening 10shot series. Her lowest shot was a 10.1 and included three 10.8s.

In total, Weisz fired 48 out of possible 60 center shots (10.2 and above) and only recorded three scores below 10. Needing every possible decimal point, Weisz fired eight 10.7s and eight 10.8s on Sunday.

The lead up to the Part II of the Olympic Trials was equally impressive for Weisz. In December 2018, she won her first Gold Medal at the Winter Airgun Championships, which attracts the top American shooters annually.

Weisz then added to her trophy case when she secured the program’s first-ever Gold Medal at the Pan American Games in August. Last December, Weisz won the Silver Medal at the Winter Airgun Championships, which doubled as Part I of the Air Rifle Olympic Trials.

Rounding out the top five scorers were Alaska Fairbanks alum Sagen Maddalena and the defending Olympic Gold Medalist in the event, Ginny Thrasher. Maddalena finished with 2504.9 points and Thrasher ended with 2504.5.

On the men’s side, Lucas Kozeniesky (2524.3) and Will Shaner (2506.6) earned spots on Team USA. Kozeniesky tied the relay world record score of 633.5 in the event on Sunday.

The USA Shooting Team will consist of eight total athletes for rifle at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. There will be four shooters for air rifle and four for smallbore, including two for each gender. The Olympics will feature men’s, women’s, and mixed team competitions in 50-meter smallbore and 10-meter air rifle.

The Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 kick off July 24, 2020 and conclude August 9, 2020. Air rifle shooting will be contested July 25 (women) and July 26 (men), and will be held at the Asaka Shooting Range in Tokyo.

Final selections to the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team are subject to U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee approval.

Ole Miss has had at least one representative (athlete of coach) at every Olympics since 1988 in Seoul. Weisz will become the 11th Rebel all-time to compete in the Olympics, including eight for track and field, one for women’s basketball, and now two for shooting.

A DREAM COME TRUE

“I actually didn’t know [I made the team] until after everything was said and done and the USA Shooting National Rifle Coach Dan Durben told me. “I could have known and followed what scores I needed, but my main goal for the entire match was just to focus on me and what I can control and shoot my match. When I’m working on focusing on that it doesn’t matter where I’m at in everything else.“ • Ali Weisz on if she knew she made the team after the final shot

• How her time at Ole Miss helped prepare her for where she is today “It absolutely did. Naturally with any collegiate team that family I was a part of at Ole Miss with all of their staff, athletes and coaches taught me about the things about the team behind the team. You learn you have constant support no matter what and it really kind of gave me a lot of heart and courage in not only myself, but just the sport as a whole. It made me fall in love with every aspect of [shooting]. While I was there, we also went through a coaching change and team dynamics which make you grow as a person. There are things you don’t necessarily want to go through, but you still grow. I think without any of those opportunities to learn and to grow I don’t think I’d be in the same place that I am today. It laid the future and the groundwork. After I competed for Ole Miss and competed at nationals while I was there really did help me say, ‘Now I’m competing for myself (with the national team), but I’m still shooting for my country,’ and how to approach all these competitions because of that.”