COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (May 28, 2019)
Eight U.S. Shotgun athletes, including six-time Olympic medalist Kim Rhode, have earned the opportunity to compete for Team USA at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru. The XVIII Pan American Games will be contested July 26 – August 11 and will feature over 6,500 athletes from 41 nations.
Athletes in both skeet events, women’s trap and the mixed team events were determined based on results at the 2019 Spring Selection Match since the maximum two Olympic Quotas has already been secured in those events. Men’s Trap, without a quota to date, was determined by a USA Shooting selection committee to try and place the top athletes in a position to secure a quota in Lima. Ultimately, the selection committee referred to the Spring Selection Match results in this discipline as well and similarly named the top-two finishers from that event.
Even without the quotas in Men’s Trap, it’s been a highly successful Olympic qualifying season already as the U.S. is guaranteed two spots in Men’s Skeet, Women’s Skeet and Women’s Trap. In 2016, Corey Cogdell-Unrein was the lone women’s trap competitor. Two athletes named to the team, including Rhode and Ashley Carroll (Solvang, California), were responsible for earning quotas to date. The U.S. Shotgun Team is rolling thus far in 2019 having claimed 10 medals in the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup Series.
Fighting for the last two remaining quotas needed in Men’s Trap will be Derek Haldeman (USAMU/Sunbury, Ohio) and Brian Burrows (Fallbrook, California). The U.S. hasn’t had a men’s trap entry in Olympic competition since the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. Haldeman, a converted double trap shooter, will compete in his first Pan Am Games. He finished