Military shooters win Gold Medals and Olympic Quota Slots
at World Cup in Dominican Republic
By Scott Engen
USA Shooting

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic - A U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit soldier from Fort Benning, Ga., won the Gold Medal in the Skeet World Cup, set a new record and won an Olympic Country Quota slot for the United States for the 2004 Olympics. SFC Todd Graves brought home the Gold Medal and an Olympic quota for the United States at the International Shooting Sport Federation Shotgun World Cup Aug. 23.

International Skeet Champion SFC Todd Graves

The 2000 US Olympic Skeet Bronze Medalist, Graves, 39, was near perfect in his run for the men's Skeet Gold Medal. Graves rolled off four clean rounds of 25 and missed just a single target in his fifth round of qualifying to enter the medals final round only 1 target behind Leos Hlavacek of the Czech Republic, who had crushed every one of his 125 targets in qualifying. This time it was Graves who cleaned the 25-target final round, while the Czech shooter dropped one bird. That tied them at 149 targets each and took them into a sudden death shoot-off. International skeet tie-breaking is done by shooting doubles only on stations three, four and five so ties are usually broken quite quickly. Four targets were thrown for each shooter in the tie-breaker before Hlavacek let one get away, giving the Gold Medal and an Olympic Quota to the American.

Graves and SPC Mark Weeks also won the Team Gold Medal in Skeet, finishing 6 points ahead of the team from Kuwait.

U.S. Air Force Reserve Major Dominic Grazioli, 38, of San Antonio, Texas, emerged from the qualifying round in men's trap in a three-way tie for the lead with 121 of a possible 125 targets. By smashing a perfect 25 targets in the medals round final, Grazioli was able to post a two-point margin of victory over silver medallist Ian Peel of Great Britain. With Grazioli's win comes another coveted quota slot for the USA in this event for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. "I was very happy with my performance," observed Grazioli after the match. "I only wanted Brett to be with me in the end." The lanky Texan was referring to his USA teammate SFC Bret Erickson, 42, a two-time Olympian from the USAMU. Erickson was part of the three-way tie entering the final, but three missed targets dropped him into fifth place in the final standings.

The American Trap Team, which included Erickson, was able to lay claim to the Team Gold Medal with a score of 358, giving them a 4-point margin over Australia. In other medal-winning action, the American Double Trap Team, which included 2000 Olympian SGT William Keever, received the Team Bronze Medal in the Double Trap behind the teams from China and Italy.

USAMU shooter wins Gold Medal at U. S. Junior Olympics
By Scott Engen
USA Shooting

COLORADO SPRINGS, Ga. - A U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit soldier won the Trap Gold Medal in the 2002 USA Shooting Junior Olympic National Shotgun Championship at the U.S. Olympic Training Center on August 28. Pvt. 2 Matthew Wallace, who battled both a steady, bone-chilling rain and a strong field of competitors, emerged as the best young male international trapshooter in the nation today. Wallace, 19, a native of Stanton, Tenn., came out of the rain-soaked qualifying round standing third with a score of 113 of a possible 125 targets, two targets behind Drew Denison, 18, of Hereford, Texas, and just one behind Joshua Richmond, 16, of Hillsgrove, Pa.

Pvt. 2 Matthew T. Wallace

A score of 20 by Dennison and a 19 from Richmond in the medals final round could not match the powerful 24 of a possible 25 targets that Wallace broke. The USAMU shooter won the Gold Medal with a total of 137. Denison finished with the Silver, putting a credible 135 on the scoreboard in his first Junior Olympic competition, while Bryan Marshall, 20, of Troutdale, Ore., shot a perfect 25 of 25 in the final and then won a tie-breaking shoot-off against Matt Scamardo, 16, of Bryan, Texas, to take the Bronze Medal with a score of 134.

Nearly 100 of the nation's best young shotgun athletes participated in the 2002 Junior Olympic Trap Championship. The athletes for this invitation-only championship were selected based on their results in Junior Olympic qualifying events in their home states, by winning their states’
American Trap Association junior 16-yard singles title or by competing at the USA Shooting National Championships. All competitors must be 20 or younger, with this year's youngest entrant being just 11 years old. Winners of the National Junior Olympic titles in each event are awarded places on the USA Shooting National Development Team, which is the National Junior Team where they are eligible for additional competition and training opportunities. Wallace joined the Army Dec. 19 after graduating from Covington High School of Covington, Tenn. After completing Basic Training and Infantry Training at Fort Benning, he was assigned to the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit.

The young shotgun shooter already has numerous marksmanship accomplishments. He won a place on the 2002 USA World Championship Team by placing second in the Junior Trap event at the U. S. World Championship Team Trials. Wallace was the 2001 Junior National Trap Champion and 2001 Junior Olympic International Trap Bronze Medalist. He also won a Silver Medal in the 2000 Junior International Trap National Championship and is a three-time Junior American Trap Association All-American. Wallace is single and lives at Fort Benning.