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Watch Lower Saucon’s Morgan Craft Go for the Gold at Rio Olympics

From Wassergass, Lower Saucon Township to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, may seem like an incredible journey, but for one poised athlete with local roots it is part of her reality–and she is gunning for the gold.

Est. Read Time: 4 mins

From Wassergass, Lower Saucon Township to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, may seem like an incredible journey, but for one poised athlete with local roots it is part of her reality–and she is gunning for the gold.

Morgan Craft

Morgan Craft

Morgan Craft, 23, is a Pennsylvania native and world champion women’s skeet shooter who recently moved to the Saucon Valley with her fiancee, Nick Boerboon, who is also an accomplished competition shooter.

She will be competing in women’s skeet shooting Friday, Aug. 12. The schedule is as follows, according to NBC Sports:

  • Skeet Women’s Qualification
    Aug. 12 8:00 a.m. EDT
  • Skeet Women’s Semifinals
    Aug. 12 2:00 p.m. EDT
  • Skeet Women’s Final
    Aug. 12 2:45 p.m. EDT
  • Skeet Women’s Victory Ceremony
    Aug. 12 3:15 p.m. EDT

The final will be streamed LIVE on the NBC Olympics website.

Craft, who moved to the Saucon Valley when Boerboon took a job at a firearms manufacturer in Ottsville, Bucks County, last year, grew up and attended high school in Sullivan County, Pa., and began her career as a youngster.

Silver medalist Morgan Craft competes in the Skeet Women Finals at the Gabala Shooting Club during Day 1 of the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun on Aug. 8, 2015 in Gabala, Azerbaijan. (Photo by Nicolo Zangirolami)

Silver medalist Morgan Craft competes in the Skeet Women Finals at the Gabala Shooting Club during Day 1 of the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun on Aug. 8, 2015 in Gabala, Azerbaijan. (Photo by Nicolo Zangirolami)

“I started shooting rifles when I was seven in 4-H,” she said in an interview with Saucon Source. “I shot those once or twice a week.”

When she was 11 or 12, Craft explained that she began shooting American Trap and at age 14, she switched to International Skeet.

American Trap and American Skeet are the most common types of competition shooting in the United States. International Trap and International Skeet are Olympic versions.

Of her switch to International Skeet, Craft said she was motivated by a desire to push herself and not necessarily dreams of competing in the Olympic Games.

“It looked like more of a challenge to me,” she said.

Craft attended and graduated from Lindenwood University in Missouri; a school that is renowned for its shooting dominance, having won the National Collegiate Shooting Championships many years in a row.

In 2012, she narrowly missed a berth on the U.S. International Skeet shooting team at the London Summer Games, because although she qualified at the Olympic trials at that time only one woman was allowed to be on the team, she explained.

Bronze medalist Morgan Craft of the United States competes in the Skeet Women Finals at the Larnaca Olympic Shooting Range during Day 1 of the ISSF World Cup Shotgun on April 26, 2015 in Larnaca, Cyprus. (Photo by Nicolo Zangirolami)

Bronze medalist Morgan Craft of the United States competes in the Skeet Women Finals at the Larnaca Olympic Shooting Range during Day 1 of the ISSF World Cup Shotgun on April 26, 2015 in Larnaca, Cyprus. (Photo by Nicolo Zangirolami)

She did become an alternate member of the gold-medal-winning women’s 2012 Olympic International Skeet team.

“At that point I sort of…made it my goal to be the first one to make (the 2016) team,” she said. And in the interim, the rules changed to allow for 2 female members.

“It was a good confidence booster, just knowing that I could really do this,” she said.

When asked about what her training for the Games was like, Craft said “distraction training” is a critical component, because there are normally many distractions during competition events. Shooters are tested for focus by being shouted at and even having dogs run in front of them. They also work with coaches and sports psychologists to develop their “mental game.”

Another trick Craft said she relies on is music.

“I normally sing a song in my head,” she said.

Most of all, what helps her concentrate in major competitions is experience, which has taught her what works best for her.

Craft credited her family with putting her on a path to potential Olympic gold.

She grew up shooting in a family in which her grandparents and parents had hunted all their lives.

“They’ve been 4-H instructors and shotgun instructors for several years now,” she noted.

Although she’s only lived in the Saucon Valley for a bit over a year, Craft said she likes it and has even taken a couple classes at DeSales University in Center Valley and ridden ambulance with Dewey EMS.

“Everyone is so helpful,” she said of the Hellertown community. “I haven’t met a mean person yet.”

Craft said she expects the U.S. team’s biggest competition in Rio to be Great Britain, Italy and China.

Good luck, Morgan. The Source–and the Saucon Valley–are with you!

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About the author

Josh Popichak

Josh Popichak is the owner, publisher and editor of Saucon Source. A Lehigh Valley native, he's covered local news since 2005 and previously worked for Berks-Mont News and AOL/Patch. Contact him at josh@sauconsource.com.

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