Carlisle Hits Last 100 Targets to Become First to Win Skeet and Bunker Trap Shooting Titles

Dan Carlisle broke his last 100 targets to win the international skeet event Friday during the 25th U.S. International Shooting Championships at Chino. He became the first shooter in history to win national titles in both skeet and bunker trap.

Carlisle, of Conroe, Tex., finished with a five-day total of 393 out of 400.

“This is a major accomplishment for me, and I’ve been trying to do it for a long time,” said Carlisle, who captured the Olympic bronze medal in trap last summer. “There’s only been three other people to make both the trap and skeet teams, and no one has ever won both championships.”

The two shotgun games are different and shooters usually concentrate on one.

But Carlisle, who has made both teams three times, dominated both games in the past two weeks at Prado Tiro.

His final tally in skeet was four targets better than his nearest competitors, and his winning trap score last week was 385 of 400, three better than any other shooter.

Joe Dickson of Fort Benning, Ga., and Dean Clark of San Diego, finished the skeet event with 387, and had to have a shoot-off for second and third place.

Both broke perfect 25s in the first round. But in the next round, Clark missed three targets while Dickson missed only one to capture second place. Both Dickson and Clark earned berths on the U.S. Shooting Team this year.

Ellen Dryke of Sequim, Wash., won her first national title Friday when she shot a 371 in the skeet event to top the women. Terry Carlisle, wife of Dan Carlisle, came in second with a 369, while Eva Funes of Seattle was third with 359.

The skeet championship was the last of 16 championships coveted by more than 600 shooters during the past 12 days. The championships also decided members of this year’s U.S. Shooting Team.