Alana Townsend, a junior at North Dakota State University and a Kalispell native, won the individual gold medal as an air pistol shooter during the 2015 National Rifle Association National Intercollegiate Pistol Championships in late March in Ft. Benning, Georgia.
Townsend, a 2012 graduate of Glacier High School and one of the top air pistol shooters in the world since she was a teenager, also claimed a silver medal in the free pistol event. She was named to the 2015 National All-American First All Star Team.
She helped the NDSU Women’s Air Pistol Team win the national championship. Six shooters represented the school’s club.
Townsend’s national championship was her second consecutive title. She claimed gold medals as national champion in women’s air pistol and open air pistol at last year’s competition.
In 2013, Townsend secured the national title in the women’s 10-meter air pistol shooting competition at the National Junior Olympic Championships in Colorado Springs, Colo.