The USA Shooting Shotgun National Championships kick off next week with trap PET staring on Saturday, September 29th. Here’s the schedule:
| Date | Day | Details |
| 9/27/18 | Thursday | Open Training |
| 9/28/18 | Friday | Open Training |
| 9/29/18 | Saturday | Trap PET |
| 9/30/18 | Sunday | Trap (75 Targets, Men & Women) |
| 10/1/18 | Monday | Trap (50 Targets, Men & Women) |
| 10/2/18 | Tuesday | Trap (75 Targets, Men & Women) |
| 10/3/18 | Wednesday | Trap (50 Targets, Men & Women) + Finals |
| 10/4/18 | Thursday | Mixed Team Day 1 + Finals |
| 10/5/18 | Friday | Mixed Team Day 2 + Finals |
| 10/6/18 | Saturday | Skeet PET |
| 10/7/18 | Sunday | Skeet (75 Targets, Men & Women) |
| 10/8/18 | Monday | Skeet (50 Targets, Men & Women) |
| 10/9/18 | Tuesday | Skeet (75 Targets, Men & Women) |
| 10/10/18 | Wednesday | Skeet (50 Targets, Men & Women) + Finals |
In years past, Nationals was used to select travel teams for upcoming events, but this year the only travel team up for selection is Mixed Team Trap. This is also the first time that Mixed Team will be contested at Nationals. At the time of writing, there’s only about 20 teams signed up. Events manager Jared Esquivel expects more teams to sign up as we get closer. In fact, he requests that teams sign up no later than Tuesday, October 2nd to give them time to get everything together for the start of competition on October 4th. Here is the sign-up form.
The Mixed Team selection will be for the 2018 Championship of the Americas, 2019 World Cup Acapulco, and 2019 World Cup Al Ain teams. Unfortunately, there are no quota places available for Mixed Team.
Many of our nations best shooters won’t be able to compete this year at Nationals. Due to budget constraints, much of the Army Marksmanship Unit team will not be attending. That means that Derek Haldeman won’t be able to defend his gold medal from 2017. Only the AMU competitors that are on World Cup teams for 2019 are being allowed to go to Nationals. Speaking of medals, here’s last years results:
| Trap Men | Trap Women | |
| Gold | Derek Haldeman | Ashley Carroll |
| Silver | Caleb Lindsey | Kayle Browning |
| Bronze | Glenn Eller | Corey Cogdell-Unrein |
| Trap Junior Men | Trap Junior Women | |
| Gold | Chris Haire | Carey Garrison |
| Silver | Garrett Beissner | Emma Williams |
| Bronze | Hank Garvey | Abby Blakely |
| Skeet Men | Skeet Women | |
| Gold | Vincent Hancock | Dania Vizzi |
| Silver | Hayden Stewart | Caitlin Connor |
| Bronze | Alex Ahlin | Sam Simonton |
| Skeet Junior Men | Skeet Junior Women | |
| Gold | Christian Elliott | Katie Jacob |
| Silver | Trey Wright | Austen Smith |
| Bronze | Eli Christman | Sydney Carson |
This year also marks the first time that you will be able to win cash prizes at Shotgun Nationals. White Flyer and Federal Premium came together to donate $7500 that will be paid out to the top 3 places in each of the 5 open divisions.
Prize money breakdown:
- 1st Place – $750.00
- 2nd Place – $500.00
- 3rd Place – $250.00
Prizes will be awarded in Men’s/Women’s Trap, Men’s/Women’s Skeet and Mixed Team Trap (winners share prize money 50/50).
I’ll be arriving in Colorado Springs on September 26th, so there will be updates each day from Nationals (at least for Trap and Mixed Team). I should be able to get someone to get me daily updates from Skeet as well.