COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado - The USA Shooting National Championships for Shotgun concluded today at the International Shooting Park near Fort Carson, Colorado with champions crowned in Women's, Men's and Junior divisions in Skeet.

Both first-time National Champions, Sydney Carson (pictued left) and Phillip Jungman (pictured right) claimed the Women's and Men's Skeet titles in stellar fashion, winning their gold-medal matches by hitting a perfect 16/16 targets.

Carson (North Liberty, Indiana) becomes the sixth different Skeet National Champion over the past six years. Nobody has repeated since Kim Rhode in 2011 on her way to claiming her fifth straight National title. Carson, 19, was a 2015 Junior World Championships silver medalist, enters a National Team loaded with Women's Skeet talent: Six U.S. women have medaled in international competition with 17 international medals earned, including the past two World Champions and the 2015 Pan American Games Champion.

"I was in disbelief after I won it," Carson said. "After my 15 in the Semifinal, I had realized I was for sure going to be put on the National Team, which is an accomplishment in itself. To go ahead and win the whole thing just made it so much better!"

Taking silver in Women's Skeet was three-time Junior World Championships medalist Dania Vizzi (Odessa, Florida) and taking bronze, World Championship silver medalist and last year's National Champion Caitlin Connor (Winnfield, Louisiana).

On the Men's side, two-time Junior World Championships medalist Jungman (caldwell, Texas) was poised to win a National Championship, having been the Junior National Champion the past three years and finishing in second place to Frank Thompson in this year's Olympic Trials process.

"I really struggled my first couple days, then I shot near perfect in the Finals," Jungman said. "Being able to do that was a real accomplishment for me."

2015 National Championship bronze medalist Dustan Taylor (U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit/Staley, North Carolina) moved up a medal this year, taking silver and 17-year-old Colton Evans (Crawford, Georgia) won bronze.

There was a sense of déjà vu on the top of the Junior Women's and Men's Skeet podiums as the winners from the National Junior Olympic Shooting Championships (NJOSC) just one month earlier claimed gold once again as the Junior champions of this match.

Winning the Junior Women's National Championship title with a perfect gold-medal match was 2016 World Cup Cyprus bronze medalist Katie Jacob (Rochester, Michigan).

"It started out really good, but even though I ended a little rough in the end [of Qualification], I still pulled it out," Jacob said. "Took that win at JOs as a stepping stone and just got back to training for this. Now I'm going to go back and do more work on my Qualification."

She was joined on the podium by NJOSC bronze medalist Samantha Simonton (Gainesville, Georgia) who won silver and Katie's sister, Jacenta Jacob (Rochester, Michigan), won bronze.

Katie's training partner Trey Wright (Albany, Georgia) won gold in the Junior Men's division.

"I was kind of mad when I dropped my first pair in the Final," Wright said. "I was kind of getting in my own head, but I've just been going out there shooting a lot and it seems to be working. Just need to get some confidence now!"

Winning Junior Men's silver was Zachary McBee (Gilbert, Arizona) and bronze was Aaron Wilson (Lansing, Kansas).

The top-three finishers overall earned appointments to the USA Shooting National Team and the top-two Junior finishers earned National Junior Team appointments.

One course of fire plus a Final from Nationals was used as part one of the selection process to determine athletes for 2017 International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup competition in New Delhi, India, Acapulco, Mexico and Larnaca, Cyprus. A cumulative score that included two additional courses of fire and two Finals from the 2016 Fall Selection Match, September 23-October 2, will ultimately determine final World Cup selection for 2017. The road to earning a 2016 National Championships medal included 250 targets plus a final in Skeet and Trap and 300 targets and a final in Double Trap.

During the eight-day event, more than 240 competitors shot in this year's USA Shooting National Championships for Shotgun.

For complete results from this year's USA Shooting National Championships for Shotgun, please visit:http://www.usashooting.org/library/Competitions/2016_SG_Natls/Copy_of_2016_SG_USASNC_RESULTS_Final.xlsx.

To view and download photos from this event:https://flic.kr/s/aHskEFRqqX.

Winchester Ammunition is a Proud Sponsor of the USA Shooting Shotgun Team: Winchester® Ammunition has been the exclusive ammunition sponsor and supplier of the USA Shooting Shotgun Team since 1999. Members of the past two shotgun teams brought home a combined six medals from London and Beijing using Winchester AA International Target loads. Winchester is an industry leader in advancing and supporting conservation, hunter education and our country's proud shooting sports heritage. For more information about Winchester and its complete line of products, visit winchester.com.

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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.

Contact:
Jessica Delos Reyes
719-866-4896
jessica.delosreyes@usashooting.org
USA Shooting