Jennifer O'Neal Carter
Bedford County Sports
Hall of Fame
Class of 2022
Bedford County Sports
Hall of Fame
Class of 2022
Jen O’Neal began shooting .22 target rifle at Everett Sportsman’s Junior Rifle Club with a 14 lb Martini lever-action smallbore at the age of 12 with coaches Boyd Foor and her Dad, Lynn
O’Neal (who previously competed for Utah State’s ROTC team).
Jen quickly worked her way through the NRA Sharpshooter program, becoming club champion and the first female ever to receive Distinguished Expert level of achievement in Everett.
She began competing at local tournaments in Alexandria and Washington, PA, winning her first overall competition at Langley Air Force Base in 1989. That same year, from these local
tournaments, Lew Muth, coach of Hagerstown rifle club, noticed and invited her to train and travel with his team. Jen began to make a name for herself when she won gold at her first
NCAA invitational tournament at Xavier University in 1990. A few months later she qualified for the Jr Olympic Championships in Colorado Springs and earned a spot on the US Jr Development Team.
Following this tournament, she was offered several scholarships, including full-rides to Tennessee Tech, Xavier University, the Naval Academy, and University of Alaska Fairbanks. Jen accepted a four year full-scholarship from UAF under Coach Randy Pitney and his wife Patti Pitney, former Olympic gold medalist. She began also competing in 10-meter air rifle as a freshman at UAF
From 1991 to 1992, with UAF rifle team, Jen took home several first-place medals, including air rifle at University of Kentucky, Tennessee Tech and Murray State University, and in the spring of
1992, she won first place in air rifle at the Jr Olympics in Colorado Springs. She also set a national record for Women’s Indoor Smallbore 3 Position, which qualified her once again for
the US Jr Development Team.
In the spring of 1992, she competed at her first NCAA championship at Murray State where she brought home a 2nd (team), 3rd (.22 individual 3-position), and 4th place medal (individual air rifle). She was also awarded First Team All-American for both disciplines. A few weeks later, she represented Team USA in Strasbourg, France. But upon returning home, she spent three weeks in the hospital from appendicitis, missing the ’92 Olympic Tryouts where she was favored to make the Olympic team.
Jen bounced-back, claiming two bronze medals that summer at the Jr National Championships, and in 1993, was the first woman ever to win gold in all three disciplines (air rifle, .22 three position and .22 prone) at the International Shooting Championships, which claimed national records and earned her a spot on the US National Team. She led her UAF team to first place at NCAAs as Team Captain in 1993, claiming her second Double All-American title (UAF rifle team was later entered into UAF’s Hall of Fame). In 1994 and 1995, she continued to travel with UAF and the US National Team, training in the summers at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, or at Fort Benning, Georgia.
She competed internationally including World Cups in Cuba, France, Germany and Switzerland; the World Shooting Championships in Milan Italy, as well as the Olympic Festival in San Antonio and was supported by both Anschutz and Feinwerkbau as an international competitor.
She led her UAF team to another NCAA title and won an individual silver medal in air rifle in 1994 and in 1995, to become a four-time Double All-American. She was named Alaska’s NCAA Woman of the Year and qualified for the US Olympic Trials in Atlanta in 1995, where she missed the ’96 Olympic Team for air rifle by one point.
Jen retired from shooting after that final competition and went on to become a teacher and curriculum consultant for math education in British Columbia, Canada, where she currently lives with her two daughters Emma and Alyssa. Jen has since then worked with local athletes on the mental side of sports such as goal-setting, mindset and visualization.
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O’Neal (who previously competed for Utah State’s ROTC team).
Jen quickly worked her way through the NRA Sharpshooter program, becoming club champion and the first female ever to receive Distinguished Expert level of achievement in Everett.
She began competing at local tournaments in Alexandria and Washington, PA, winning her first overall competition at Langley Air Force Base in 1989. That same year, from these local
tournaments, Lew Muth, coach of Hagerstown rifle club, noticed and invited her to train and travel with his team. Jen began to make a name for herself when she won gold at her first
NCAA invitational tournament at Xavier University in 1990. A few months later she qualified for the Jr Olympic Championships in Colorado Springs and earned a spot on the US Jr Development Team.
Following this tournament, she was offered several scholarships, including full-rides to Tennessee Tech, Xavier University, the Naval Academy, and University of Alaska Fairbanks. Jen accepted a four year full-scholarship from UAF under Coach Randy Pitney and his wife Patti Pitney, former Olympic gold medalist. She began also competing in 10-meter air rifle as a freshman at UAF
From 1991 to 1992, with UAF rifle team, Jen took home several first-place medals, including air rifle at University of Kentucky, Tennessee Tech and Murray State University, and in the spring of
1992, she won first place in air rifle at the Jr Olympics in Colorado Springs. She also set a national record for Women’s Indoor Smallbore 3 Position, which qualified her once again for
the US Jr Development Team.
In the spring of 1992, she competed at her first NCAA championship at Murray State where she brought home a 2nd (team), 3rd (.22 individual 3-position), and 4th place medal (individual air rifle). She was also awarded First Team All-American for both disciplines. A few weeks later, she represented Team USA in Strasbourg, France. But upon returning home, she spent three weeks in the hospital from appendicitis, missing the ’92 Olympic Tryouts where she was favored to make the Olympic team.
Jen bounced-back, claiming two bronze medals that summer at the Jr National Championships, and in 1993, was the first woman ever to win gold in all three disciplines (air rifle, .22 three position and .22 prone) at the International Shooting Championships, which claimed national records and earned her a spot on the US National Team. She led her UAF team to first place at NCAAs as Team Captain in 1993, claiming her second Double All-American title (UAF rifle team was later entered into UAF’s Hall of Fame). In 1994 and 1995, she continued to travel with UAF and the US National Team, training in the summers at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, or at Fort Benning, Georgia.
She competed internationally including World Cups in Cuba, France, Germany and Switzerland; the World Shooting Championships in Milan Italy, as well as the Olympic Festival in San Antonio and was supported by both Anschutz and Feinwerkbau as an international competitor.
She led her UAF team to another NCAA title and won an individual silver medal in air rifle in 1994 and in 1995, to become a four-time Double All-American. She was named Alaska’s NCAA Woman of the Year and qualified for the US Olympic Trials in Atlanta in 1995, where she missed the ’96 Olympic Team for air rifle by one point.
Jen retired from shooting after that final competition and went on to become a teacher and curriculum consultant for math education in British Columbia, Canada, where she currently lives with her two daughters Emma and Alyssa. Jen has since then worked with local athletes on the mental side of sports such as goal-setting, mindset and visualization.
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Bedford County Sports Hall of Fame
Bedford County, Pennsylvania
Bedford County, Pennsylvania