Franz earns gold at National Junior Olympics
By JoAn Bjarko
North Forty News
A Livermore marksman spent much of May in Georgia training and competing
in shooting sports with the goal of someday qualifying for the Olympics.
Twenty-year-old Scott Franz won a gold medal in April for the 3x40 50-meter
event at the National Junior Olympics in Colorado Springs, which also earned
him a spot on the Junior National Team. Franz shoots a .22 rifle and air
rifle.
During the school year, Franz is a member of the 10-time NCAA Champion
Nanook rifle team at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. With a scholarship,
he is majoring in mechanical engineering. His parents are Justin and Cheryl
Franz of Livermore.
At age 12, Franz got his start in shooting sports with the Livermore Wranglers
4-H Club. His younger sister, Kayla, also took up the sport, and the family
traveled to many states and the United Kingdom for matches. Cheryl Franz
describes her son's winnings as "baskets of medals, plaques and certificates."
Franz's recent gold-medal event required shooting 40 record shots from
each of three positions – prone, standing and kneeling. He said it takes
about three and one-half hours to complete the set.
"This event is one of the harder matches; it takes the longest time," he
said in a telephone interview from Georgia.
With the junior team, Franz will travel and shoot various World Cup matches
that prepare athletes for the Olympic Trials in 2012.
In May, Franz competed in USA Shooting Spring Selection matches and in
a World Cup event at Fort Benning, Ga. He'll be at home in Livermore for
10 days in June and then return to Georgia for the Shooting National Championships,
which are open to all ages.
The number of Olympic shooting events has ranged from a low of two at the
1932 Los Angeles games to a high of 21 events in Antwerp in 1920. Beginning
in 2008 at the Beijing Olympic Games, the Olympic program now includes
15 events: six for women and nine for men. The athletes are divided into
shotgun, rifle and pistol disciplines.
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