Shotgun Spring Selection
By Kevin Neuendorf Director of Media & Public Relations
Rhode, Hancock Highlight World Champ Roster As Spring Selection Concludes
Having missed out on the
robust medal performance put forth by USA Shooting’s Shotgun Team at the 2014 World Shooting Champion- ships, Kim Rhode and Vin- cent Hancock (pictured) as- sured themselves another opportunity later this year by dominating Selection Match performances. Those two highlight the shotgun ath- letes named to the team for World Cup Azerbaijan and the World Championships at the USA Shooting’s Spring Selection Match in Fort Ben- ning, Georgia. Joining them in Skeet will
be Caitlin Connor (Winnfi eld, Louisiana) and Morgan Craft (Muncy Valley, Pennsylva- nia) on the women’s side, the same team that has competed in this year’s fi rst three World Cups. Joining Hancock on the men’s side is a couple of Texas natives in second-place fi nisher TJ Bayer (College Station, Tex- as) and Dustin Perry (Love- lady, Texas). The results
from this
match were combined with the results from the 2014 Shotgun Fall Selection Match held in Tillar, Arkan- sas to determine open team selections
for World Cup
Azerbaijan and the World Championships for Shotgun later this year. Junior Team selections for World Cham- pionships will be based on combined results from this
summer’s National Junior Olympic Shooting Champi- onships and National Cham- pionships. Having wrapped up their
quota allotment already, the three U.S. women are in fi erce competition for indi- vidual points that can now automatically qualify them for Olympic nomination based upon World Cup and World Championship per- formance. Having earned a spot in two Finals including a silver medal in Acapulco, Connor has a slight two- point edge on Rhode, 19- 17. Rhode earned gold in Acapulco and then seventh in Al Ain, United Arab Emir- ates. The U.S. Men’s Skeet squad is still after one ad- ditional Olympic quota. Han- cock earned one with his win at the Acapulco World Cup back in early March. Glenn Eller (USAMU/
Houston, Texas), Derek Hal- deman (USAMU/Sunbury,
24 USA Shooting News | May 2015
Ohio) and Chris Wilkoski (Centerburg, Ohio) have earned the Double Trap team selections for these upcoming events. Not eli- gible are two of USA Shoot- ing’s shining stars over the last year including World Champion and 2012 Olympi- an Josh Richmond (USAMU/ Hillsgrove, Pennsylvania) along with World Cup Finals winner and 2008 Olympian Jeff Holguin (USAMU/Yorba Linda,
California). Rich-
mond and Holguin are re- sponsible for having already secured the two Olympic quotas available in the event - Richmond by virtue of his 2014 World Championship title, and Holguin following his win at World Cup Aca- pulco (Mexico) to begin this season. Having already competed
in two World Cups this sea- son, both Eller and Halde- man remain on the World Cup travel team and solidi-
fi ed their World Champion- ship standing. Eller, third coming into the Spring Se- lection Match, was domi- nant on his home range to ensure his nomination. Eller outshot his nearest competi- tor Richmond by 11 targets in qualifi cation and then fi n- ished third and fi rst in each of the two fi nals. Haldeman fi nished third in Spring Se- lection to fi nish second overall. Just a junior at age 20, Wilkoski will get the op- portunity to compete in his second World Cup later this summer. Top honors in Trap were by Myles Walker
earned
(Elkhorn, Wisconsin) and Kayle Browning (Wooster, Arkansas) with Jake Wal- lace (Castaic, California), An- thony Matarese (Pennsville, New Jersey), Corey Cogdell- Unrein (Eagle River, Alaska) and Kimberley Bowers (La- fayette, California), also earning team selections. The goal now for the U.S. Trap Team is gathering three more Olympic quotas neces- sary for Olympic participa- tion. Cogdell-Unrein secured one to start the season with a World Cup victory in Aca- pulco while Browning was close to securing a second at the same match. Burrows was fourth in Acapulco, two spots away from what could have been the fi rst quota se- cured for the U.S. men in the event since 2008.
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