While many collegians look forward to some well deserved time off during the winter break, one Texas Deepher will be spending her days training hard for The Olympic Shooting Team. Caitlin Barney Weinheimer, a sister of the Gamma Gamma Chapter at Schreiner University, grew up in a very "active and outdoorsy family." Before college, Caitlin got involved in her local 4-H shooting program and at 15, made the Junior Olympic Shotgun Team. Since then she has been competing in USA Shooting Women's International Trap Events.
"Women's International Trap is a shooting game in which a clay target comes out of the trap house and flies away from you," Caitlin explains, "The target can go 45 degrees in either direction, at varying heights and the average speed of the target is 60-70 miles per hour. In bunker(another name for international trap), the target comes from one of fifteen machines in a house or bunker that is ground level. There are five stations to shoot at and each station has three possible machines that can throw the target. In a typical shooting round you get twenty-five targets (five from each station) ten of which are right angles(20-45 degrees), ten left angles and five are straight angles (0-15 degrees). At each station you get two left, two right and one straight angle. It is a challenging game but a blast to shoot."
Her involvement has allowed Caitlin to represent the United States at the World Cups in Chile, Australia and Slovenia, as well as the World Championships in Serbia. Her next step is training over the winter for the Olympic Trials in Tuscon, Arizona, in which she currently has a lead in the second portion. Despite her position, she respects her competitors and knows they will be vigorously training. "I plan on training extremely hard and giving it my very best at the match in Tucson," she says, "I feel very grateful for all the support and encouragement I have received in my attempt to achieve my dream."
A member of DPhiE since spring 2011, Caitlin feels love and support from the sisterhood. "I joined DPhiE because I saw how supportive and encouraging the sisters were," she says, "For the majority of my college career my life had been solely about shooting and academic performance. I felt like I was lacking a well rounded college experience and I wanted to build relationships that would last a lifetime."
The sisters of Gamma Gamma are certainly supportive as Caitlin juggles her intense shooting schedule with her coursework and typically misses about five weeks of school per semester.
As graduation approaches, this communications major hopes to use her degree to serve shooting sports and outdoor organizations in marketing and public relations. Caitlin explains, "The shooting sports community has helped shape who I am; I grew up in it. I love the sport and the people involved in it. I want to ensure that the hunting and shooting sports legacy is around for future generations."
