September/October 2011: Volume 19, Number 5 - USA Shooting

Meet the New
National Champions
2011 National Men’s 50m Rie Prone and Men’s 50m Rie ree Position Champion Sergeant First Class Jason Parker.
Once a year, American shooters
have the opportunity to earn a
berth onto the USA Shooting
National Team. e exception
to that rule occurs if a shooter makes an
Olympic or World Championship Team, then
he or she is automatically a member of the
National Team. At the 2011 USA Shooting
National Championships for Shotgun, six
new faces staked a claim to a spot on the
National Team in June in Colorado Springs,
Colo. Just a few weeks later, four additional
National Team members were added at the
USA Shooting National Championships
for Rie and Pistol in Fort Benning, Ga.
Athletes fought inclement weather (in the
form of thunderstorms, rain and oppressive
heat) to put up competitive scores.
In the USAS National Championships
for Shotgun, the thirteen day event began
with Men’s and Women’s Trap. In a eld of
young talent, Matt Gossett (Springville, Ala.)
won not only the National Title in Men’s
Trap, but the Junior National Title as well. At
only 19 years old, Gossett is chasing a spot
on the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team. Despite
gusting winds, Gossett shot 241 out of 250
targets over three days of competition. He
stayed strong in the nal to shoot 23 out
of 25 targets for a one target victory. Brian
Burrows (Fallbrook, Calif.) captured the
silver medal with 242 out of 250 targets
and 21 targets in the nal. Burrows is a
Resident Athlete at the Olympic Training
Center in Colorado Springs and trains daily
at the International Shooting Park. Also
nding the podium was Sta Sergeant Ryan
Hadden (Pendleton, Ore.) of the U.S. Army
Marksmanship Unit (USAMU). Wearing the
signature black and yellow of the USAMU,
Hadden shot 238 out of 250 match targets
and 23 targets in the nal for the bronze
medal. Hadden was already a member of
the National Team, but Gossett and Burrows
bring fresh faces to the roster.
Also added to the National Team was
Kayle Browning (Wooster, Ark.). Browning
shot 231 out of 250 match targets and 23
targets in the nal for the gold medal and
National Title. Teammate Miranda Wilder
(Diana, Texas) also made her rst National
Team with 234 out of 250 match targets.
Wilder delivered a 19 target nal to secure
the silver medal. Both Wilder and Browning
are unique in that each built their own trap
bunkers to take advantage of daily training
as Olympic-style bunkers are hard to nd in
the U.S. Resident Athlete Rachael Heiden
(Clinton, Mich.) shot 237 out of 250 targets
and 15 targets in the nal for a total of 252
targets. Tied with the USAMU’s Sergeant
First Class Terri DeWitt (Smiths Station,
Ala.) at 252 targets, Heiden and DeWitt
entered a shoot-o for the bronze medal.
Aer one target, Heiden was victorious.
DeWitt, a world-class shooter for decades to
include countless World Cups, a handful of
National Championships and an Olympic
Games, announced her retirement from the
shooting sports and was met with a standing
ovation.
e USAMU is known not only for its
trap talent, but also its sharp-shooting Men’s
Double Trap trio of Sergeant Jerey Holguin
(Yorba Linda, Calif.), Sta Sergeant Joshua
Richmond (Hillsgrove, Pa.) and Sergeant
Glenn Eller (Katy, Texas). Holguin topped
the podium with 289 out of 300 match