November/December 2010: Volume 18, Number 6 - USA Shooting

(Athlete Profiles)Will Brown’s story is similar to that of many shooters—he beganhunting with his father and then progressed to a gun club in TwinFalls, Idaho. Brown started shooting in a National Rifle Association(NRA) rifle league. At a qualifier match in Idaho, RandyShishasko sparked Brown’s interest in pistol. But this young athlete—knownaround the Olympic Training Center for his Wranglers, belt buckles andJohn Deere hats—is a more complex character than what meets the eye.Brown’s first rifle was the same Remington .22 that his grandfather was given at 8years old. Consequently, Brown also received it at the same age. After shooting pistolfor three years, Brown made the National Development Team and decided to focus onpistol. At the 2009 and 2010 National Junior Olympic Championships, Brown was thegold medalist in Junior Men’s 10m Air Pistol. In ’09 he also won the Junior Men’s FreePistol competition, but that was eliminated from the program in 2010. Brown is mostproud, however, of his second day of competition at Bavarian Air Gun—he shot a 579for a National (Junior) Air Pistol Record.Brown graduated from high school in June, packed his bags and moved to theOlympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., to train full-time and attendcollege. Though he has mechanical engineering aspirations, Brown is also passionateabout his grandfather’s farm in Idaho. This avid outdoorsman cites hunting, fishing,hiking, camping and even muni (mountain unicycling) as some of his favorite activities.Brown and his 15-year-old brother, Wyatt, are both accomplished unicycle ridersWill Brownand outfit their bikes with beefy, off-road tires to tackle the rugged terrain. Not onlydoes it take an incredible amount of balance, but Brown claims it is excellent corestrength training for pistol shooting. Last year, Brown bagged an impressive six-by-six bull elk after putting in for a bull tag in Idaho everyyear since he was 12. Expect to see more medal-winning performances from this talented shooter, student, unicyclist, Resident Athlete andaspiring Olympian.Miranda Wilder’s life revolves around shooting. This16-year-old has led anything but a “typical” life thusfar. Wilder spent her toddler years in South Carolina,where her father first put a pistol in her hands at 4years old. As her family moved with her father’s job,the schools and houses would change, but shooting always remained consistent.Still just a single digit old, Wilder’s father encouraged her to shooton the skeet field with a .410 and positioned her ten meters behind thebunker. As she began to break more and more targets, Wilder receiveda Beretta 391 .12 gauge shotgun and became involved in American TrapAssociation (ATA) competition. It should be noted that both the hergrandfather and uncle are also ATA shooters, so competitive shootingruns in the family.The Wilder family moved to Florida and began to manage the localMiranda Wildershooting club in Gainsville. At 12 years old Wilder spent her time inschool, shooting and setting up the skeet and trap fields. Wilder’s fatherhad a “new game” that he wanted to show Miranda and her mother—International Skeet. Ever the competitor, Wilder was motivated to win.“I wanted to go out there and beat him, so I beat him in the first round at 11 targets,” said Wilder. Other than available training, one of themany advantages of working at the shooting range was meeting the talent that shot at competitions. Wilder had the opportunity to meet formerOlympians Collyn Loper and National Shotgun Coach Bret Erickson, who gave her pointers and inspired her to continue with shooting.In 2006, Wilder claimed the gold medal in Junior Women’s Trap at the National Junior Olympic Championship. She repeated that feat in2007 and 2008. At the 2008 USA Shooting National Championship, 14-year-old Wilder not only competed in the Women’s Trap, but claimedthe national title. In that same match, Wilder became the first and currently only American woman to shoot 25 straight targets in a singleshotfinal. In 2010, she beat the competition in a 10 target shoot-off for the gold medal in Junior Women’s Trap at the World Championship.Now, as a 17-year-old, Wilder resides with her parents in College Station, Texas, on a 40-acre farm with six horses, two donkeys, two dogsand a cat. She has enrolled in a home-school program that allows more flexibility for her training and competition schedule. Instead of theBeretta she began with, Wilder now shoots a Perazzi MX8 that she contributed to with money from her savings account and a lucky ATA raffleticket. Moreover, Wilder’s parents purchased one of the old trap machines from the shooting club in Gainsville. With the help of her grandfatherand father, the trio built a bunker in the family’s backyard. Her father, an electrical engineer, used a new system for pouring the walls inlieu of cinder blocks to create solid concrete walls. With her cheek tight on the comb, Wilder continues to aim and train for five-ring success.20 USA Shooting NewsNov-Dec Issue 2010.indd 2011/8/10 9:22 PM