COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (March 9, 2019)
The USA Shooting Spring Selection Match for Shotgun wrapped today at Tucson Trap and Skeet in Tucson, Arizona with the final day of competition and awards presented in the Skeet events.
The stakes were high for the nation’s top shotgun competitors as Pan American Games, International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Championship and World Cup selection spots were up for grabs at this event. Competition included 250 targets of Qualification over four days, plus today’s Final where additional points were awarded based on finish (three for first, two for second and one for third place).
Taking top honors in the men’s competition was Phillip Jungman (Caldwell, Texas/U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, pictured above) who overtook the Qualification lead after Day 3 and finished off Qualification with the top score of 243/250 targets. Jungman, who took silver at last year’s Spring Selection, finished the match with an overall score of 246 points, which included three points for his top finish in the Final. He also tied eventual silver medalist, reigning National Champion and his USAMU teammate Christian Elliott (Greenville, Indiana) in today’s Final with a score of 56/60 targets. Taking bronze was Robert Johnson (Phoenix, Arizona), who won the bronze medal by defeating Mark Staffen (Lewis Center, Ohio/USAMU) in a shootoff, 25-24 targets.
On the Junior side, Benjamin Keller (Johnstown, Colorado) was the top finisher, Alex Ahlin (Bamberg, South Carolina) took silver and Conner Prince (Burleson, Texas) took bronze.
Six-time Olympic medalist Kim Rhode (El Monte, California, pictured above) was the top finisher in the women’s competition. Rhode entered the Final with the top Qualification score of 241 targets. Once in the Final, she would tie two-time defending National Champion and 2017 World Champion Dania Vizzi (Odessa, Florida) with 57/60 targets. Vizzi won the shootoff 4-3, to finish with an overall score of 240 points. Vizzi would once again go into a shootoff with Sam Simonton (Gainesville, Georgia), who also had 240 points, to determine silver and bronze medals. Vizzi would win this shootoff, 25-21 for the silver medal, leaving Simonton with the bronze.
World Championship Junior bronze medalist Austen Smith (Keller, Texas) won the Junior Women’s competition by a dominating 10 points. 2017 Junior World Champion Katie Jacob (Rochester, Michigan) won silver and Jasmine Otis (Wasilla, Alaska) won bronze.
Complete results from the Shotgun Spring Selection Match: https://bit.ly/2TunstY .
The ISSF World Cup season for shotgun kicks off March 17 in Acapulco, Mexico, though top finishers from this match were vying for spots at World Cups later in the season in Changwon, South Korea and Lathi, Finland. A top-two finish in Tucson went a long way toward qualifying an athlete for Pan American Games selection, which will take place July 26-August 11 in Lima, Peru. 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. The top-three Junior finishers are also eligible for the ISSF Junior World Cup, July 12-20 on Suhl, Germany.