The Journey Begins: The First Leg of the U.S. Olympic Trials for Shotgun
OutdoorHub 09.23.11
Colorado Springs, Colo. — Thursday, the USA Shooting Team embarked on a historic path that will decide the men and women who will represent their country in London. From Kerrville, Texas, the first shots will be recorded on Sept. 23, in Men’s and Women’s Trap. Both events did not have an athlete that met the point threshold, thus the spot is wide open for the men and women. In Women’s Trap, Corey Cogdell (Eagle River, Alaska) won a quota spot at the 2010 Championship of the Americas. However, Men’s Trap has yet to win an Olympic participation quota, yet looks to do so at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, in October. This match-the Fall Selection-represents the first leg of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials and will conclude in May of 2012. The course of fire for Men’s and Women’s Trap is 250 targets. This score will be combined with the final leg of U.S. Olympic Team Trials to determine a pool of six finalists, where a finals round will take place to determine the next Olympian.
Rachael Heiden (Clinton, Mich.) is the only female to earn an International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup medal in Women’s Trap this season. Fellow U.S. Olympic Training Center Resident Athlete Cogdell recently finished sixth at the ISSF World Clay Target Championships. Young talent such as Kayle Browning (Wooster, Ark.) and Miranda Wilder (Diana, Texas) landed spots on the National Shotgun Team with breakout performances at this year’s USAS National Championships for shotgun. The field remains open and the time has come to begin selecting members to the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team.
Men’s Trap is a guessing game; no American has had consistent performances throughout the 2011 season. Olympic Training Center Resident Athlete Collin Wietfeldt (Hemlock, Mich.) gained international experience and nearly made the finals at two World Cups. Staff Sergeant Ryan Hadden (Pendleton, Ore.) finished thirteenth at the recent ISSF World Clay Target Championships and is looking to earn a berth to his first U.S. Olympic Team. Matt Gosset (Springville, Ala.) and Brian Burrows (Fallbrook, Calif.) earned spots on the National Shotgun Team at the USAS National Championships for Shotgun earlier this year.
To learn which American athletes are competing in Men’s and Women’s Trap, please check the entry list.. To watch live scores (from the match, not official training), navigate to the iClays website.
About USA Shooting:
USA Shooting, a 501c3 non-profit corporation, was chartered by the United States Olympic Committee as the National Governing Body for the sport of shooting in April 1995. USA Shooting’s mission is to prepare American athletes to win Olympic medals, promote the shooting sports throughout the U.S. and govern the conduct of international shooting in the country. Check us out on the web at www.usashooting.org and on Twitter at twitter.com/USAShooting.
