SHOOTING : U.S. Servicemen Sweep Skeet Competition

American shooters, representing three branches of the armed services, dominated the skeet competition Saturday on the final day of World Cup USA at the Prado-Tiro shooting ranges in Chino.

Leading the way was 6-foot-7 Ed McCamish, a Marine sergeant from Quantico, Va.

McCamish, 26, whose best finish in an international event was 13th last month at Cairo, shot 24 out of 25 clay targets in the final--for a total of 144 of 150--to give Team USA its third gold medal in the five-day, 15-event competition.

McCamish missed the target on his 13th try in the final, then paced about nervously between shooting stations. He did not miss again in his first major victory.

He smiled as though a burden had been lifted from his broad shoulders, but he refused to admit to being nervous.

“I don’t think any differently,” he said. “I shoot in a final just like I do in the first round.”

Indeed, it was his sixth consecutive 24-of-25 performance.

Todd Graves, an army sergeant from Columbus, Ga., also shot 24 in the final (142 of 150 overall) to win the silver; and Bill Roy, an Air Force captain from Colorado Springs, in sixth place going into the final, shot all 25 to force a three-way sudden-death shoot-off in which he defeated Fritz Altmann of Canada and Harald Jensen of Norway for the bronze.

“I don’t recall a better day for the U.S. shotgun team,” Coach Lloyd Woodhouse said. “You can’t break targets harder than those we just broke out there (in the final).”

In the running target final, Attila Solti of Hungary won his fourth consecutive World Cup USA gold medal with 673 of a possible 700 points, edging Francis Allen (664) and Italian Carlo Colombo (656).

Nino Saloukvadse of the Republic of Georgia set two women’s world records--in qualifying and in the final--to win the gold medal in the sporting pistol event.

The United States finished atop the medal standings with three golds, five silvers and six bronzes. Italy was second with two golds, two silvers and three bronzes and Georgia was third with two golds.