Bronze Medal for USA in World Championships

USAS · Post by **USAS** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 8:46 am

By Mary Beth Vorwerk
USA Shooting

NICOSIA, Cyprus - A Soldier of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit of Fort Benning, Ga., took the Bronze Medal Sept. 3 in the Double Trap Finals of the 2007 World Clay Target Championships. Spc. Joshua M.
Richmond, the 2005 Junior Men's World Clay Target Champion in Double Trap, had a qualification score of 143 and entered the finals in the third spot. He shot a 46 in the finals and took third place with a score of 189 after a shoot off with Great Britain's Steven Scott.

Italy's Francesco Daniello claimed first place with a final score of 191, while China's Binyuan Hu took second with 190. Richmond's USAMU teammates Pfc. Walton Glenn Eller III and Spc. Jeffrey G. Holguin took 17th and 29th places respectively with scores of 138 and 136.

Eller and Holguin were also members of the 2005 World Clay Target Championship Team. Holguin finished in fourth place for the Double Trap Men in 2005 and Eller, a two-time Olympian, finished 19th.

Richmond, Eller and Holguin have been dominating the podium in international Double Trap competition in 2007. Eller claimed the gold medal at the World Cup in Korea in April and Richmond took the gold at World Cup Italy in June. Richmond and Holguin also claimed the gold and silver in Men's Double Trap at the 2007 Pan American Games in July.

In the Junior Team Competition, Russia took the Gold Medal with a combined score of 393 targets. The Silver Medal went to Justin Richmond (the younger brother of USAMU Soldier Josh Richmond), Jared Fodor and Bryce Gearhart of the USA with 383 targets and the Bronze went to Italy with a score of 379. The U.S. Team took fourth place in the Men's Double Trap Team Competition.

Thirty shotgun shooters are representing the USA at the 2007 World Clay Target Championships through Sept. 9, and 10 of them are military. The event is taking place at the Nicosia Olympic Shooting Range in the area of Latsia on the outskirts of Nicosia. The United States has eight Olympians as well as 13 returning 2005 World Clay Target Championship team members competing for world titles.

Another USAMU shooter, Pvt. 2 Vincent C. Hancock, the reigning World Clay Target Champion in Men's Skeet, along with his USAMU Teammates, 2004 Olympian Sgt. 1st Class Shawn C. Dulohery and four-time Olympian and 2000 Olympic Bronze Medalist Sgt. 1st Class James Todd Graves will be vying for the world title in Men's Skeet. Graves is coming off a Bronze Medal at the 2005 World Clay Target Championships.
Hancock is the 2007 World Cup Italy champion and world record holder and also won the Gold at the 2007 Pan-Am Games, where Graves took the Silver.

Three-time Olympian and 1996 Olympic Bronze Medalist Lance Bade of Vancouver, Wash., will be looking to claim the world title in the Men's Trap competition. Bade is having a successful 2007 so far, winning the Gold at the World Cup in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in March. Also shooting for the USA in Men's Trap will be three-time Olympian and 2005 World Clay Target Championship team member retired Sgt. 1st Class Bret E. Erickson along with Air Force international trap team member Maj. Michael Herman.

Haley Dunn of Eddyville, Iowa, a 2007 Pan-American Games Gold Medalist, three-time Olympic medalist (1996 and 2004 Gold, 2000 Bronze) Kim Rhode of El Monte, Calif., and two-time Olympian Connie Smotek of Bryan, Texas, will be representing the USA in Women's Skeet. Dunn and Smotek were both members of the 2005 World Clay Target Championship team.

Corey Cogdell of Eagle River, Alaska, along with USAMU members Sgt. 1st Class Joetta R. Dement and 1996 Olympian Sgt. 1st Class Theresa E. DeWitt will be competing in Women's Trap. DeWitt finished seventh in Women's Trap at the 2005 World Clay Target Championships.

The U.S. Junior Team will feature four returning shooters from the 2005 World Championships. Max Jolliff of Fredericksburg, Texas, finished in 31st place in Junior Men's Trap in 2005. Emily Blount of Tucson, Ariz., and Sally Coggins of Bogart, Ga., took sixth and 10th place respectively for the Junior Skeet Women in 2005. Molly Bender of Montoursville, Pa., took 12th place in Women's Trap at the 2005 World Clay Target Championships. All will be looking to medal in Cyprus.

World Clay Target Championships Team Roster:
Glenn Eller (Katy, Texas), Double Trap
Jeff Holguin (Fullerton, Calif.), Double Trap Josh Richmond (Hillsgrove, Pa.), Double Trap Shawn Dulohery (Lee's Summit, Mo.), Men's Skeet Todd Graves (Laurel, Miss.), Men's Skeet Vincent Hancock (Eatonton, Ga.), Men's Skeet Lance Bade (Vancouver, Wash.), Men's Trap Bret Erickson (Bennington, Neb.), Men's Trap Mike Herman (Dayton, Wyo.), Men's Trap Haley Dunn (Eddyville, Iowa), Women's Skeet Kim Rhode (El Monte, Calif.), Women's Skeet Connie Smotek (Bryan, Texas), Women's Skeet Corey Cogdell (Eagle River, Alaska), Women's Trap Joetta Dement (Renton, Wash.), Women's Trap Theresa DeWitt (Cincinnati, Ohio), Women's Trap

World Clay Target Championships Junior Team Roster:
Jared Fodor (Centerburg, Ohio), Junior Double Trap Bryce Gearhart (Freeburg, Pa.), Junior Double Trap Justin Richmond (Hillsgrove, Pa.), Junior Double Trap BJ Blanchard (Vidor, Texas), Junior Men's Skeet Jon McGrath (Tulsa, Okla.), Junior Men's Skeet Hunter Wise (Coleman, Texas), Junior Men's Skeet Matt Heck (Cimarron, N.M.), Jr. Men's Trap Max Jolliff (Fredericksburg, Texas), Junior Men's Trap Richard Valdez (Canon City, Colo.), Junior Men's Trap Emily Blount (Tucson, Ariz.), Junior Women's Skeet Sally Coggins (Bogart, Ga.), Junior Women's Skeet Jaiden Grinnell (Port Angeles, Wash.), Jr. Women's Skeet Molly Bender (Montoursville, Pa.), Junior Women's Trap Breanna Heckenkamp (San Diego, Calif.), Junior Women's Trap Miranda Wilder (Longview, Texas), Junior Women's Trap

World Clay Target Championships Competition Schedule:

Sept. 4
Official Training, Trap Men
Official Training, Skeet Women
Official Training, Skeet Junior Women
Official Training, Skeet Junior Men

Sept. 5
Skeet Junior Men, 75 Targets
Skeet Junior Women, 75 Targets
Trap Men, 75 Targets
Skeet Women, 75 Targets
Final, Skeet Women

Sept. 6
Skeet Junior Men, 50 Targets
Trap Men, 50 Targets
Final, Trap Men

Sept. 7
Official Training, Trap Junior Men
Official Training, Skeet Men
Official Training, Trap Junior Women
Official Training, Trap Women

Sept. 8
Trap Junior Women, 75 Targets
Trap Junior Men, 75 Targets
Skeet Men, 75 Targets
Trap Women, 75 Targets
Final, Trap Women

Sept. 9
Skeet Men, 50 Targets
Final, Skeet Men

For complete results throughout the World Clay Target Championships, visit http://www.issf.tv/issftv_table.aspx?mo ... ist=720&co
llapse=results.

(Formed in 1956 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to raise the standards of marksmanship throughout the U.S. Army, the Army Marksmanship Unit is assigned to the Accessions Support Brigade of the U.S. Army Accessions Command. The Marksmanship Unit trains its Soldiers to win competitions and enhances combat readiness through train-the-trainer clinics, research and development. For more information on the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, contact the Public Affairs Office at (706) 545-5436, paula.j.randall@us.army.mil or www.usamu.com. USA Shooting is recognized by the U.S. Olympic Committee and the International Shooting Sport Federation as the national governing body for the Olympic and international shooting sports in the United States. For more information on USA Shooting, contact Public Relations Manager Mary Beth Vorwerk at (719) 866-4896, marybeth.vorwerk@usashooting.org or http://www.usashooting.com.)