ACCOKEEK, MD (April 10, 2008) Vincent Hancock has earned a spot on his first U.S. Olympic Team, finishing with a total score of 511 targets.
The 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for shotgun were hosted at the Hill Country Shooting Sports Center in Kerrville, Texas earlier this month. This event is a collaborative partnership between the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) and USA Shooting.
There are eight spots available on the U.S. Olympic Shotgun Team: Men’s Skeet, 2; Men’s trap, 2; Men’s Double, 2; Women’s Skeet, 1 and Women’s Trap, 1.
The entire list of qualifiers includes:
Men’s Trap-Bret Erickson & Dominic Grazioli
Women’s Trap-Corey Cogdell
Men’s Double Trap-Glenn Eller & Jeff Holguin
Men’s Skeet-Vincent Hancock & Sean McLelland
Women’s Skeet-Kim Rhode
The athletes were selected to the U.S. Olympic team based on the aggregate score from this competition and the Fall Selection competition that was held last August. The USOC has final approval of all U.S. Olympic team athletes.
Hancock is a solider with the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit based in Fort Benning, Ga. He has captured the World Cup in Italy and set a finals World Record in Men’s Skeet at the same time. He also won gold at the 2007 Pan-American Games and won a bronze medal at the 2007 World Clay Target Championships.
He shoots an unmodified Beretta DT10 Trident Skeet 28″ barreled shotgun.
The entire U.S. Olympic Shooting Team will compete in the 2008 summer Olympics to be held in Beijing, China in August.
