Golden Mountaineer

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games officially opened just 18 hours ago, and the United States and West Virginia University have already won Gold, as Mountaineer sophomore Ginny Thrasher finished first in the women’s 10m air rifle this morning at the Olympic Shooting Centre, located inside Deodoro Park, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Thrasher’s Gold medal was the first awarded in Rio. The reigning NCAA air rifle and smallbore champion, the 19-year-old is the third-youngest USA women’s shooting medalist. Additionally, she is the third USA shooter to win the women’s 10m air rifle and the first since Nancy Napolski-Johnson won in 2000.

A native of Springfield, Virginia, Thrasher…