Incoming Georgia Southern freshman Emme Walrath took the gold medal at the 2024 USA National Junior Olympic Championships for smalbore Friday evening just two says after taking silver in air rifle Wednesday at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Walrath, who signed with Georgia Southern in November, entered the smallbore competition in second place after two days, but used strong scores in kneeling and prone to stay close to the top of the leaderboard before surging late in standing to beat TCU's Kaite Zaun. In air rifle, she led after the first day of competition and put up another strong performance on the second day to easily make the eight-shooter final where she finished a close second.
Rising sophomores Bremen Butler (smallbore, air rifle) and Brooklynne Weatherford (air rifle) also shot well at the event. Incoming freshman Hailey Singleton also put up high scores over the two days in smallbore.
Walrath, from Kenosha, Wis., joined the USA National Futures Team at 2022's USA Shooting Nationals and the National Development Team after 2022's Junior World Championships in Egypt.
Georgia Southern, coming off its third straight SoCon championship and a No. 9 final national ranking, welcomes back five returners, as well as Walrath and Singleton (Bellevue, Ohio). The team's schedule for 2024-25 will be released later this spring.
