COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (June 7, 2019)
Two first-time National Champions were crowned today at the International Shooting Park outside Colorado Springs, as the four-day test of nerves and shooting skill concluded in Men’s and Women’s Trap. Julia Stallings and Alex Rennert are your 2019 National Champions.
The recent Lindenwood University graduate, Stallings (Rossville, Tennessee) is a first-time National Champion and she beat a talented field in the Finals after shooting 234/250 and entering as the fifth overall qualifier. She found a rhythm in the Finals and rode that to the national title, earning a one-point victory over 2018 National Champion Aeriel Skinner (Jackson, California). Skinner finished sixth at the recent Spring Selection Match.
“This feels like a milestone and one of the many steps I have to take to get to the ultimate goal of becoming an Olympic champion,” Stallings said. “What it took to get here were a lot of tears, frustration, and ultimately patience to trust myself in hitting the target.”
Using a borrowed gun due to her barrels cracking two days before Nationals began, Ashley Carroll (Solvang, California) is the 2019 bronze medalist.
Finishing fourth was Kayle Browning (Wooster, California). Despite not getting on the podium, Corey Cogdell-Unrein (Eagle River, Alaska) had a great performance, particularly since less than two months ago she was giving birth to her first child. She showed a return to form by finishing Qualification in first place with a score of 238, two targets better than any other competitor. Once in the Final, the three-time Olympian and two-time Olympic bronze medalist would finish fifth. Madelynn Bernau (Waterford, Wisconsin) would finish sixth.
Led by Rennert, it was a dominant trap performance for
