16-Year-Old Hancock Wins World Championship in Men’s Skeet

[USAS]

LONATO, Italy – Sixteen-year-old Vincent Hancock (Eatonton, Ga.) continued his domination in the world of international skeet shooting, Monday, with a gold medal win at his World Championship debut, in Lonato, Italy. Hancock won with a 148 total score, just one target ahead of Ennio Falco, of Italy.



Sgt. First Class Todd Graves, of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU), took third with a 146 total score and an impressive 26 in the tie-breaker to beat out Abdullah Alrashidi, of Kuwait, for a spot on the medal stand. The U.S. men’s skeet team finished second in the team standings with a 355 total team score, losing in the tiebreaking procedure to Norway. The U.S. team was made up of Hancock, Graves and Staff Sgt. Mark Weeks, also of the USAMU.



Skeet shooter J.P. Gougler (College Station, Texas) just missed the medal stand for the U.S. in the junior category. Gougler hit a 117 to tie for third, but couldn’t hold on for the bronze, as he hit a three in tiebreaker and lost to Germany’s Frank Dittmer, who hit a four. Gougler led the U.S. junior team to a fourth place finish in the team standings, with Mark Muzyka (Dover, Mass.) and Kent Vail (Colorado Springs, Colo.) rounding out the team members. Italy, France and Finland made up the first, second and third place team medalists, respectively, in this event.



In women’s skeet, which finished up on Sunday, 20-year-old Haley Dunn (Eddyville, Iowa) just missed the final round, finishing with a score of 69. Dunn was able to get the U.S. team up to the medal stand for the bronze medal in the women’s skeet team event, though, with two-time Olympian Connie Smotek (Lyons, Texas) and Brandie Neal (Spencer, Ind.) shooting for that U.S. team.



Sgt. First Class Theresa DeWitt (Smiths Station, Ala.) did not have the same luck, however. Although, she only missed the finals by one shot, shooting a 67 in women’s trap. The U.S. women’s trap team, comprised of Emma Simpson (Hartsfield, Ga.) and Amanda Dorman (Colorado Springs, Colo.), just couldn’t find the medal stand, as they finished sixth overall with a 194 team score.



The U.S. did make the medal stand in junior women’s trap, with Susan Sledge (El Cajon, Calif.) winning the bronze at her first World Championships, and finishing with a 62. Mimi Wilfong (Malakoff, Texas) was right at the cut-off for a medal, hitting a 61 and finishing in fourth. There were no team awards for this event, though, due to the lack of numbers competing.



For more information or full results from the ISSF World Championships in Lonato, Italy, please log on to www.issf-shooting.org. For more information on the U.S. World Championship Team, please log on to www.usashooting.org, or email Sara Greenlee at sara.greenlee@usashooting.org.