in third was National Junior Team member Austin Odom (Benton, Ark.).
On the women’s side, the qualifying leader would prove to be the overall winner and for Ra- chael Heiden (Clinton, Mich.), it is a position she’s becoming more and more familiar with. Heiden’s earned three of the last four U.S. National titles and was a fi nalist at the 2013 World Cup in Acapul- co, Mexico, and the recent World Clay Target Championships. She adds a Fall Selection Match title to her blossoming career after defeating a staunch fi eld that in- cluded two-time Olympian Corey Cogdell (Eagle River, Alaska) and Ashley Carroll (Solvang,
Calif.),
who had earned victories at the two previous Selection Matches. Heiden’s wire-to-wire win was almost disrupted by Kayle Brown- ing (Wooster, Ark.) who found her old form in time to almost knock Heiden from her perch.
After
each shooting 12 of 15 targets in the semifi nal, the two would go to a shoot-off with Heiden ad- vancing after a 3-2 decision. The recently engaged Heiden, would next square-off against Carroll in the gold-medal match and would again be forced to earn the vic- tory with a shoot-off after each competitor broke 12 targets in their matchup. Heiden would a capture a win after Carroll would miss on her third target. Susan Sledge (El Cajon, Calif.) would earn the bronze medal after de- feating Browning, 11-10, in their medal match. After shooting an eight of 15 in the semifi nal, Cog- dell would be forced to settle for fi fth while Kimberely Bowers (La- fayette, Calif.) fi nished sixth over- all and was the Junior Champion.
Double Trap Now the celebration can really begin for Double Trap specialists Glenn Eller (Houston, Texas) and Ian Rupert (Muncy, Pa.) following
Eighteen-year-old Luis “Taz “ Gloria defeated two Olympians, the current U.S. Champion and a savvy veteran to win the Men’s Skeet fi nal on his home range at the Fall Selection Match.
a pair of autumn performances separated by just 20 days but equal in their dominance. The two Double Trap World Champions scored back-to-back wins on a blustery day at Fall Se- lection.
In the span of three weeks,
Eller, the four-time Olympic vet- eran and two-time World Cham- pion, has pulled himself back into the ranks of where he was fi ve years ago when he became Olympic champion at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, Chi- na. Eller’s World Champs medal was his fi rst international medal since a World Cup bronze medal in 2011. True to form over the past de-
cade, the toughest competition Eller and his U.S. Army Marks- manship teammates Jeff Holguin (Yorba Linda, Calif.) and Josh Richmond (Hillsgrove, Pa.) rou- tinely face are the same com- petitors they see and compete against daily. The three have had a decade-long stranglehold on both the World and U.S. Double Trap competition.
Combined
they’ve earned 14 World Cham- pionship medals, 26 World Cup medals and appeared in six Olympic Games. The three fi nished on the podium once again with Hol- guin advancing to the fi nal after defeating Richmond in a shoot- out after tying at 27 during the 30-target semifi nal. After a 28
semifi nal, Eller would score a 26 and a one-target win over his 2008 Olympic teammate Holguin for the gold medal. Richmond would secure bronze after a four-target win in his bronze-medal match with Derek Haldeman (Sunbury, Ohio). Other fi nalists included Rupert and Christian Wilkoski (Centerburg, Ohio).
Eller held the fi rst-day lead by
three targets and by the end of Thursday’s qualifi cation had tri- pled his lead over second-place qualifi er Holguin, 285-276. The podium fi nishers placed exactly how they had fi nished in quali- fying with Richmond qualifying third with 271 targets hit. In the junior division, the
junior world champion Rupert held a fi ve-point advantage on Wilkoski after Day 1 and by the end of Thursday had extended his lead to 14 after qualifi cation had concluded. Junior results are based off of match scores with Wilkoski fi nishing second, two targets ahead of third-place fi nisher Billy Crawford (Johnstown, Ohio).
Other fi nalists and order
of fi nishers included Hank Gar- vey (Newburyport, Mass.), Jesse Haynes-Lewis (Nahant,
Mass.),
Jacob Fritcher (Driftwood, Texas) and Dale Royer (Jackson, Mont.).
Skeet
Luis “Taz” Gloria is your Fall Selection Match Men’s Skeet
champion after upsetting a tal- ented fi eld that included two Olympians,
the current U.S.
Champion and a savvy veteran. A victory also guarantees he’ll represent Team USA at his home range in the 2014 Tucson World Cup next April. Not fazed by the experience before him, Gloria found himself competing for gold on the famil- iar grounds of his home range. The moment wasn’t too big for Taz, the most inexperienced of the fi nalists that featured two- time Olympic gold medalist Vincent Hancock (Eatonton, Ga.), 2012 Olympian Frank Thomp- son (Alliance, Neb.), 2013 U.S. Champion Dustin Perry (Crockett, Texas) and two-time Olympic Tri- als fi nalist Mark Weeks (Clinton Township, Mich.). He would enter the gold-
medal fi nal to face Perry after defeating Hayden Stewart (Colum- bia, Tenn.), 2-1, in a shoot-off after the two tied in the semifi nal hitting 15/16 shots. He’d again nail 15 targets in the fi nal to de- feat Perry by one target. Weeks would secure the bronze medal by defeating Stewart in another shootout, 4-3. Tied for the lead in qualifying, Thompson and Hancock would miss the medal rounds after each shot a 13/16 in the semifi nals.
Stewart’s per-
formance would garner him a junior title in the event. Gloria, 18, was a member of the USA Shooting Team that competed in the 2013 World Clay Target Championships and
Year in Review 2013 | USA Shooting News 65
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