Shawn Dulohery and Haley Dunn won the men’s and women’s skeet finals, respectively, at the 2008 USA Shooting Fall Selection Match, held at Ft. Carson’s International Shooting Park in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The top three finishers in each category (open and junior) at the 2008 Fall Selection match will represent the U.S. at the 2009 World Shotgun Championships, which will be held August 7-16 in Maribor, Slovenia.
Leading the way in the men’s open category, U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) member and 2004 Olympian Shawn Dulohery (Lee’s Summit, Mo.) finished in first place with a match score of 244 out of 250 targets, a final of 23 for a total score of 267 out of 275 targets.
Dulohery’s USAMU teammate Vincent Hancock (Eatonton, Ga.), the 2008 Olympic gold medalist in skeet, finished in second place with an overall score of 265 targets. Hancock, a world champion and world record holder, started out with 92 out of 100 targets on the first day of the match, then missed only two targets the rest of the competition. He hit a perfect 100 on the second day, followed by 49 out of 50 on the final day of the match, then 24 out of 25 in the final.
Earning a spot on his first world championship team in the men’s open category is Frank Thompson (Alliance, Neb.) who finished in third place with a qualification score of 238, a final of 24 and a total of 262 targets.
BJ Blanchard (Vidor, Texas) claimed the top spot for the junior men finishing with a match score of 236, a final of 24 for a total of 260 targets.
Right behind Blanchard was 2008 National Champion Jon Michael McGrath (Tulsa, Okla.), who also shot 236 targets in the qualification, but shot 23 targets to Blanchard’s 24 in the final. McGrath hit 24 targets in the open final, claiming fourth place.
Chris Haver (Clinton, Mich.) captured third place in the men’s junior category with a match score of 227, a final of 24 and a total of 251 targets.
Haley Dunn (Eddyville, Iowa), who is coming off a bronze medal win at the 2008 Beijing World Cup and a gold from World Cup USA, took the top spot in women’s skeet with a match score of 239, a final of 24 and a total of 263 targets.
Four-time Olympian and 2008 Olympic silver medalist in skeet, Kim Rhode (El Monte, Calif.), finished second with a qualification of 238 targets, a final of 23 and a total of 261.
Seventeen-year-old Jaiden Grinnell (Port Angeles, Wash.) made her first world championship team in the open category by taking third place. Grinnell hit 234 targets in the match, 24 in the final and ended with 258 targets.
Grinnell also hit 24 targets in the junior final and ended with 258 overall in the junior category to claim first place.
Amber English (Colorado Springs, Colo.) took second with a match score of 230, a final of 24 and a total of 254. English also finished in fourth place in the open category after shooting a final of 24 targets.
Caitlin Connor (Winnfield, La.) captured third place after a shoot-off with Ali Chiang (Redwood Shores, Calif.). Connor had a match score of 225, a perfect final score of 25 targets and an overall score of 250.
Since Grinnell already claimed a spot on the 2009 World Championship team in the open category, Chiang’s fourth place finish qualifies her for a spot on the 2009 Junior World Team.
The 2008 USA Shooting Fall Selection Match will conclude on September 20 with the men’s and women’s trap finals.
