One Down, Many to Come!

And like that Sammy is done with her second pentathlon, and first international competition! I cannot believe that my sister is competing at the international level. Sammy reported that she didn't do as well as she hoped with the fencing, running and shooting, but I think we would all just be proud of her for accomplishing the amazing task of getting herself to Sweden. She went into the fencing in 44th place (out of 70) with 992 points (points are assigned with the most going to the person in first place and down until the last). In the fencing she received 5 wins. For those of you, like me who aren't familiar with the fencing jargon you must touch your opponent without being touched yourself. Points are then given based on the touches and wins. Sammy was awarded 544 points in fencing. Mind you Sammy has only been fencing for a short while so the fact that she was able to get 5 wins in wonderful in my mind.

Sammy felt that her run was not her best and that her shooting was not as good as she had hoped. I'll explain how the running and shooting works, so you can better understand her results. The running and shooting is combined with a 3k run and shooting at a target 10 meters away. The athletes will shoot first, run 1k, shoot twice, run another 1k, shoot a third time, and run the last 1k. They use an air pistol for the shooting which must be reloaded every shot. There are 5 targets and a 90 second limit, either the athlete must get all five targets down or wait the 90 seconds to continue the run. And although she only got all five targets down once, Sammy finished her run and shoot in 15 minutes and 57 seconds, awarded 1172 points.

Overall she placed 68th with 2708 points. Her two other teammates placed 9th and 65th, both have been competing for quite a while and have had pervious experiences with international competitions. I am so proud of my little sister who is an absolutely amazing athlete!

Congratulations on the completion of your first (of hopefully many) international competitions