DARYL SZARENSKI

ThomasTownship native Daryl L. Szarenski discharged his first firearm at the Saginaw GunClub as a sixth grader, aspiring to do nothing more than deer hunting. But by his sophomore year at SwanValleyHigh School, the teen was invited to compete in the Junior Olympics but ranked near last. But he returned each year until he earned top honors as a freshman in college in 1987; and that is  when he set his eye on the Olympic Games. Szarenski  attended Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville where he was a walk on his first year on the Varsity Rifle team earning a Scholarship his sophomore year and finishing 2nd at the NCAA championships that same year. He started shooting pistol in his junior year and is one of two people ever to make All-America in both Rifle and Pistol in the same year adding to his two other All-American rifle victories in 1988 and 1990. He also made a stop at Troy State University in Troy, Al; andRoger Williams University in Bristol, RI, where he still strives to finish his degree in Industrial Technology. Szarenski joined the U.S. Army in 1991 where he was recruited to be a member of the elite Army Marksmanship Unit in Fort Benning, GA for 19 years. In 2011 he was reassigned to the World Class Athlete program in Fort Carson, Colorado where he continued to spend five days a week, eight hours a day, firing rounds. He amassed numerous shooting awards, including 1st places at National Championships in Pistol Shooting in 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2005, 2009, 2010 and 2011 (air); 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012 (free). In 1996 he went to the Olympic trials and placed third, with the two people ahead of him making the team. Finally, after more than a decade of training, Szarenski qualified for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. In the 50 meter free pistol event, he placed 25th. He won a gold medal in Pan-Am air pistol competition in 1999 in Winnipeg, Canada. During the Pan-Am Games competition in 2003 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, he established a new record by ten points to win a gold medal, winning the 50- meter competition with a score of 658.1. At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, he finished 13th in the men’s 10-meter air pistol with a score of 579.0 and also placed 15th in the free pistol competition with 554 points. Szarenski also competed in the Olympic competition in Beijing (2008) and London (2012) Games. On two occasions he finished 13th, his best finish. Four times he was named USA Shooting Pistol Shooter of the Year and a five-time World Championship competitor on the USA Shooting Team with fourth in the World being his best finish. He also won World Cup Gold Medals in Buenos Aires (Air) in 1998 and Beijing (Air and Free) in 2010. He also went on to win the World Cup Finals the same year (2010). In 2011, He broke a USA Shooting National Record during the first part of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials by shooting 590 out of a possible 600 match points in Air Pistol. He retired from the U.S. Army in 2013 as Sergeant First Class and is featured in the Distinguished Alumni showcase at Swan Valley High School. Szarenski currently lives in Florida and has two children, Hannah 17 and Luke 15.