Today - It's all about the Girls

Below is Megan Jendrick. Is that not the coolest photo? She looks like she's sneaking up on her prey. Which, actually, she did to make the team. You may or may not remember her from the 2000 Games? She won a gold. Then was unable to make the 2004 Athens team to defend her gold by a mere one one hundredth of a second. Blink your eyes.

That's how fast she missed her chance.

I cannot even begin to fathom the disappointment.

Well, guess who saw Redemption? Last month she literally snuck up on her competition and won the last place on the team for her specialty by...you guessed it, a .11 of a second!

That tells me (and then in turn, the Crumbs) this girlfriend has some Grit y'all!

She won her gold 8 years ago. She is obviously not as fast as she once was. It's apparent she's been pouring her heart and soul into training. And she proved she can Dig Deep when the chips are down.

Oh baby, I can already tell, swimming is gonna be a Scream Fest in the Shooter Household.

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Meet Corey Cogdell.

I will be following this girl's progress like a Rabid Dawg.

Here's why.

She was born and raised in Alaska. Like a lot of kids in Alaska, she and her sister were home schooled. She started shooting from her back deck with her Daddy at the ripe old age of 3. Yes, 3.

Her momma was killed in a car accident when she was 9. Her Daddy quit his full-time construction job the next day to be a full-time care taker of His Girls. And he finished homeschooling them. Now, like any good dad, he found all sorts of extra curricular activities that would count towards P.E. Corey took to trap shooting like a duck to water.

Before he knew it, she was a Champion this and a Champion that. The first one being when she was 13.

Last winter she was 8 targets out from having a spot on the Olympic team. She was training at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs when she called home and said, "I really feel I need to go train in Texas where the last competition will be held." Dad agreed and off she went.

Her natural instincts paid off. On the morning of the competition, she put on her Alaskan long-johns she'd gotten used to training in and walked out into the frigid air. Her competition, not being used to the cold, showed up bundled in cumbersome gear.

At the end of three days, she had not only made up the eight targets to make first place, she'd won the entire competition by 12 targets. That's like saying Tiger Woods won the board by 12 holes! Usually, competitions of this level are won by one, maybe two targets. Twelve y'all. 12.

And btw, she's the only female member of the 2008 Shooting Team.

How's that for an Olympic Example?

Now, here's my Rabid Dawg reasonings:

1. She was born and raised in Alaska, I was born and raised in Idaho. (It's wilderness-ish people. Work with me here!) BTW, that's me and FIL a loooong time ago. In Idaho.

2. She learned to shoot off her back deck. Crumb #2 learned to shoot off the back of Grampa's deck.

3. She wears all the correct gear. Girl Child wears all the correct gear. Ish.

4. She turned out to be a fabulous example for homeschooled kids. Mine are showing...potential??

5. She is just so Dang Cute. And Girl Child's so Dang Cute.

...most of the time.

And reason #6 - To get to her level, she must know all the tricks of the trade. And, apparently, Crumb Snatcher #2 is learning some of her own. This one is called "Squeeze my Red Ryder with my Sweet Cheeks so I can cock my gun" trick.

Don't laugh, it may come in handy one day at the Olympic Trials...

I'll keep you informed.

Love Note to my Big Shooter: Thank you for encouraging them to Dream Big. I love it that all they are seeing right now are red, white and blue, inspiration and opportunities at every turn. That all they are hearing in their little heads is the Star Spangled Banner and America the Beautiful. It makes my heart go pitter-pat.