Richland deputy 10th best shooter in national event

As Deputy Anna Bailey prepares to begin a shooting competition, she repeats five words.

Only about a dozen of the roughly 320 competitors were women, and they were all competing in the two highest classes, she said.

Her category was 1500 matches, in which competitors fire 150 rounds from revolvers and semi-automatic handguns at different distances. A perfect score is 1500; Bailey’s high score was 1486.

Bailey said she doesn’t think of competition in terms of male or female. She wants to be the best — period.

“I played football in middle school. I didn’t think, ‘I’m a girl and I want to play football.’ I just liked football.”

In high school, she played volleyball, basketball and softball. At USC Upstate, she played volleyball.

“I find something I like doing, and I train to do it to the best of my ability,” she said.

Sheriff Leon Lott said he first realized Bailey’s potential two years ago at a department shooting competition.

“I was the reigning champ, and she out-shot me,” he said. “She’s just got that natural ability.”

Her accomplishments are even more impressive considering she was competing against shooters with far more years of experience, Lott said.

Still, 30 mph winds and bright sunlight in the Albuquerque, N.M., desert upped the ante, she said.

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