Colorado Springs, CO -(AmmoLand.com)- Ashley Carroll left no debate in her run to a Fall Selection Match title Monday and in claiming the top World Cup spot for 2017.
She upheld her defense of the national title she earned in July against a world-class field at the Hill Country Shooting Sports range in Kerrville, Texas.
Monday’s weather was unfavorable to say the least but two athletes withstood the rain and wind best and it led Carroll (Solvang, California) to a win and Caitlin Barney-Weinheimer (Mountain Home, Texas) to a third-place finish. Both shot a 69 out 75 with the next nearest competitor six targets behind. The two then met in the Finals that ultimately ended in a shoot-off after tying at 13 targets apiece. Carroll would earn the Finals win to cap off a dominant 14-point win. She was the top qualifier in all three World Cup qualification rounds and had two second-place finishes and a win in each of the three Finals.
Kayle Browning Thomas (Wooster, Texas) earned a silver-medal finish, after tying for fourth in Qualification and then finishing fifth in the Finals. That finish gave her a slight .5-point advantage over Barney-Weinheimer. She finished third overall in World Cup Selection as well.
Finishing second in the overall World Cup selection process was two-time Olympic Bronze Medalist Corey Cogdell-Unrein (Eagle River, Alaska). She struggled today to the tune of an uncharacteristic 61, but then made the most of it by winning a shoot-off to get into the semifinal and then went on to earn a third-place finish. Cogdell-Unrein concludes a most successful season October 14 when she competes in the World Cup Final in Rome, Italy.
Men’s Trap is one day away from deciding Fall Selection results and World Cup selection with the concluding 75 targets and a Final set for Tuesday. Jake Wallace (Castaic, California) was masterful on the range today executing a perfect score going 50 for 50, nine targets better than two of the three competitors ahead of him in World Cup selection going into today. He now owns a nine-point advantage going into the final day. Austin Odom (Benton, Arkansas), who was leading World Cup selection, struggled to score of 37 dropping him to fifth currently. Bradly Beckmann (Chesterfield, Missouri), Chris Haire (Anna, Illinois) and Dustin McGowen (Greenwood, Arkansas) are all tied in second, with Seth Inman (Lexington, Missouri) and Odom tied for fifth, 11 targets out.
The Fall Selection Match featured two courses of fire plus two separate finals in each event. Thus, women shot 150 targets in Trap (75 for each course of fire) plus Finals. Men are shooting 250 targets (125 for each course of fire) plus Finals in Trap.
Results from the Fall Selection combined with results from July’s USA Shooting National Championship are used to determine Team spots for 2017 World Cup Selection. Top aggregate scores from three courses of fire including one from Nationals and two from Fall Selection, plus three separate Finals, helped determine overall placement and selection. Carroll, as the high aggregate score, will have the choice of start positions at two of the three World Cups. The second and third highest aggregate scores will have the choice of a start position at one of the three World Cups. The remaining World Cup start positions will be filled by National Coach staff selection. That selection process will include consideration of scores at national level competitions and results at international events, among other factors.
The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup schedule for 2017 features three shotgun events including the season-opener in New Delhi, India, February 22-March 4, Acapulco, Mexico, March 17-27 and Larnaca, Cyprus, April 28 – May 8.
The 2017 season will also feature the Shotgun World Championship in Moscow, Russia, August 30-September 9.
About USA Shooting:
USA Shooting, a 501c3 non-profit corporation, was chartered by the United States Olympic Committee as the National Governing Body for the sport of shooting in April 1995. USA Shooting’s mission is to prepare American athletes to win Olympic medals, promote the shooting sports throughout the U.S. and govern the conduct of international shooting in the country.
Check us out on the web at usashooting.org and on Twitter at twitter.com/USAShooting.