Plane tickets to the most important competitions of the season were on the line for the American Trap and Skeet specialists at the Shotgun Spring Selection Matches at the Tucson Trap & Skeet Range over the past two weeks.
According to USA Shooting, “A top-three standing qualified athletes for the ISSF World Championship for Shotgun for both Open and Junior athletes, which will be contested June 30-July 11 in Lonato, Italy” and will have a major impact on the U.S. team for the Pan American Games in Lima (PER) later in July.
The top performers in each event were clear.
Derek Haldeman won the Trap Qualification rounds with 241/250 targets and then finished second in the Final to Caleb Lindsey, 44-42. In Skeet, Philip Jungman won the qualification at 243/250 and then won the Final as well, scoring 56/60, as did Christian Elliott, but Jungman won the title on the combined points.
The immortal Kim Rhode – winner of six medals over the last six Olympic Games – led the women’s Skeet qualifying at 241/250, then finished second in the final, scoring 57/60, as did Dania Vizzi. But Vizzi won the shoot-off, 4-3; both should be on the team.
Ashley Carroll and Rachel Tozier had the top score in women’s Trap at 223, and both scored 44 in the Final, but Carroll won the shoot-off, 6-5, for top honors. Summaries:
USA Shooting Shotgun Spring Selection
Tucson, Arizona (USA) ~ 25 February-9 March 2019
(Link to Trap results here; Link to Skeet results here)
Men
Trap Final Standings: 1. Derek Haldeman, 241; 2. Brian Burrows, 236; 3. Haicheng Yu (CHN), 233; 4. Derrick Mein, 231; 5. Caleb Lindsey, 230.
Trap Finals: 1. Lindsey, 44; 2. Haldeman, 42; 3. Burrows, 34.
Skeet Final Standings: Phillip Jungman, 243; 2. Mark Steffen, 241; 3. Christian Elliott, 241; 4. Robert Johnson, 241; 5. Frank Thompson, 238; 6. Eli Christman, 238; 7. Remington McBee, 238; 8. Vince Hancock, 238.
Skeet Finals: 1. Jungman, 56; 2. Elliott, 56; 3. Hancock, 46.
Women
Trap Final Standings: 1. Ashley Carroll, 223; 2. Rachel Tozier, 223; 3. Kayle Browning, 222; 4. Madelynn Bernau, 220; 5. Yingzi Liu (CHN), 218.
Trap Finals: 1. Carroll, 44; 2. Browning, 44 (Carroll won shoot-off, 6-5); 3. Tozier, 34.
Skeet Final Standings: 1. Kim Rhode, 241; 2. Sam Simonton, 239; 3. Austen Smith, 238; 4. Dania Vizzi, 237; 5. Amber English, 237.
Skeet Finals: 1. Vizzi, 57; 2. Rhode, 57 (Vizzi won shoot-off, 4-3); 3. Simonton, 44.
Mixed
Team Trap: 1. Brian Burrows/Kayle Browning, 141; 2. Derek Haldeman/Ashley Carroll, 140; 3. Austin Odom/Ariel Skinner, 136; 4. Grayson Eavey/Julia Stallings, 136; 5. Yu Du/Xiaojing Wang (CHN), 135; 6. Haicheng Yu/Yingzi Liu (CHN), 135.
Team Trap Finals: 1. Haldeman/Carroll, 45; 2. Burrows/Browning, 41; 3. Davey/Stallings, 31.
