The 2009 World Shotgun Championship Team was decided on Monday following the conclusion of the double trap competition at the 2008 USA Shooting Shotgun Fall Selection Match.
The top three finishers in each category (open and junior) will represent the U.S. at the 2009 World Shotgun Championships, which will be held August 7-16 in Maribor, Slovakia.
Leading the team will be 2008 Olympic gold medalist and U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) member Glenn Eller (Katy, Texas), who won the match with a qualification score of 293 out of 300 targets, hit 45 in the final and ended with an overall score of 338 out of 350 targets.
Eller’s USAMU teammate Josh Richmond (Hillsgrove, Pa.), the 2007 Pan American Games gold medalist, finished in second place to secure his spot on the 2009 World Championship Team with a match score of 287, a final of 49 and a total score of 336 targets.
USAMU member and 2008 Olympian Jeff Holguin (Yorba Linda, Calif.) took the third spot with a match score of 286 targets, a final of 48 for a total score of 334 targets.
For the junior double trap men, 15-year-old Billy Crawford (Johnstown, Ohio) finished in first place, securing his spot on the 2009 World Shotgun Championship junior team in double trap, finishing with a match score of 284 targets, a final of 48 and a total of 332, which also landed him in fourth place in the open category.
Bryce Gearhart (Freeburg, Pa.) grabbed the second spot with a match score of 277, a final of 46 and an overall score of 323 targets.
Derek Haldeman (Sunbury, Ohio) finished in third place, hitting 272 targets in the qualification, 45 in the final and ending the match with a total of 317 targets.
The men’s and women’s skeet finals were held Tuesday, and the 2008 USA Shooting Fall Selection Match will conclude on September 20 with the men’s and women’s trap finals.
