USA World Cup Finalists

[Guest]

By Paula J. Randall
U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, Accessions Support Brigade

FORT BENNING, Ga. – Three U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit Soldiers, a retired Soldier and an Air Force officer have been selected to compete in the most elite shooting competition of the year – the International Shooting Sports Federation World Cup Finals, which is also called the Champion of Champions match. This year’s World Cup Finals will be conducted in Grenada, Spain, Oct. 3 to 8.

Only the best shooters in the world receive an invitation from the ISSF to the year’s most-exclusive competition. The decision of who is invited is made by how well the shooter places at the World Cups and World Championships over the season. The ISSF only invited the top shooters in the world to compete in this elite match, which is the traditional closing competition of the international shooting season.

U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit international rifle shooter Sgt. 1st Class Thomas A. Tamas will be competing in the Prone Rifle competition at this year’s World Cup Finals. Also going will be USAMU shotgun shooters 1996 Olympian Sgt. 1st Class Theresa E. DeWitt in Women’s Trap and 2000 Olympian Staff Sgt. William H. Keever in Men’s Double Trap.

Also selected were retired USAMU Sgt. 1st Class Bret E. Erickson and Air Force Capt. Michael Herman in Men’s Trap, and 2005 Women’s Shooter of the Year Haley Dunn of Eddyville, Iowa, and two-time Olympian Connie Smotek of Lyons, Texas, in Women’s Skeet.

Tamas, a native of Columbus, Ga., won the Gold Medal and an Olympic Quota Slot in Prone Rifle at the World Cup in Resende, Brazil, April 23 to May 4. The two-time Olympian also won two Silver and a Bronze Medal in World Cups in 2004 and 2005.

At the Hill Country Shooting Sports Center in Kerrville, Texas, May 10, DeWitt battled through to win the Silver Medal in Women’s Trap at the World Cup USA. DeWitt also secured a country Olympic quota spot with her second-place finish.

Keever shot a 136 and helped the U.S. Team win the Gold Medal in the World Championship Men’s Double Trap event July 31 at the Luze Shooting Range in Zagreb, Croatia. The U.S. Team, which finished with a 414 total score, won in a tie-breaking procedure against the team from China.

At the World Championships, Erickson, a three-time Olympian, took the Bronze Medal in Men’s Trap and Herman won the Gold at the Brazil World Cup. Smotek took the Women’s Skeet Gold Medal at the World Cup USA in May and she and Dunn took the Gold and set a Team World Record in Women’s Skeet at the World Championships.