Burrows qualifies for 2020 Olympics

Brian Burrows qualified for the men’s trap shooting event at the 2020 Olympic Games.

The 2007 Fallbrook High School graduate placed second in the Olympic trials matches which consisted of 250 targets plus finals shots Sept. 10-13 in Kerrville, Texas, and 300 targets in Tucson Feb. 28 through March 2.

“Since I was 14, I’ve tried to make the Olympic team and finally everything came together,” Burrows said. “Everything fell into place.”

Men’s trap shooting has a quota formula for the Olympics, and the nations with the gold and silver medals at the 2019 Pan American Games, which were held July 29-31 in Lima, Peru, qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games. Burrows won the gold medal, and Derek Haldeman, who is originally from Ohio and is currently a member of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit based at Fort Benning in Georgia, took home the silver medal, thus qualifying two American men for the 2020 Olympics. The Americans also took the top two positions in mixed trap at the Pan American Games; Haldeman and Ashley Carroll won the gold medal, while Burrows and Rachel Tozier were the silver medalists.

Derrick Mein, who lives in the eastern Kansas town of Paola, hit 240 of his 250 targets during the initial rounds at Kerrville. Burrows hit 236 of his 250 targets before the finals. Haldeman was 17th in the Olympic trials match after the 10 rounds with a score of 220.

The top six shooters after the 10 rounds competed in the finals Sept. 13. The finals began with 25 targets, and the subsequent rounds were five targets apiece. The shooter with the lowest score dropped out after each round. The Kerrville finals did not carry over the previous scores, but the finals provided bonus points for the first, second and third shooters.

Burrows hit 29 of his 35 targets in the finals and placed fourth, so he did not receive any bonus points. Mein also finished first in the final and added three bonus points, giving him 243 to carry over to the second match. Alex Rennert, who is now with the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit at Fort Benning and is originally from Florida, was third in the final and added one bonus point to his score to enter the Tucson match in third place with 232 points. Two bonus points in the Kerrville final moved Seth Inman, who lived in the western Missouri town of Lexington before joining the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, into fourth place with 231 points.

The shooters had three Feb. 28 rounds of 25 shots each. Burrows hit 22 targets in his first round, 23 during the second round and 24 during the day’s final round for 69 targets.

Rennert hit 58 targets on the first day with rounds of 17, 18 and 23 successful shots.

“He had a rough day and kind of fell back a little bit,” Burrows said.

Mein hit 67 of his targets Feb. 28. Inman hit 72 targets consisting of 23 in the first round, 24 for the second round, and all 25 in the third round.

“Each time he beat me by one target,” Burrows said.

That placed Inman two target points behind Burrows. Although the Olympics aspirants were focused on their own scores, they had some idea of how close their competitors were.

“You know where you are,” Burrows said. “You kind of have this mental feeling of where everybody is.”

Since two men would qualify for the Olympics, Burrows was focused more on staying ahead of Inman than on catching Mein.

“We battled the entire match until the very last target,” Burrows said.

The Feb. 29 competition consisted of two rounds, and Burrows and Inman were both perfect.

“We both shot 50 straight that day,” Burrows said. “We stayed neck and neck. He was shooting very strong, and I knew I had to shoot very strong, too.”

The results kept Burrows two points ahead of Inman.

“It was a battle between Seth and I,” Burrows said.

The entire four-day competition had only 14 perfect rounds.

“To shoot four of them the second day indicated it would be a battle and a drive the whole match,” Burrows said.

Burrows and Inman would account for half of those perfect rounds with Burrows hitting 25 targets three times and Inman being perfect on four rounds.

“You try to shoot perfect rounds, but in this situation, I was just trying to stay ahead of Seth,” Burrows said.

The perfect score was a bonus.

“I’m happy with my performance,” Burrows said. “It was a great day.”

Burrows had one perfect session at Kerrville, hitting all 25 targets during the sixth round.

Mein hit 23 targets in each of his Feb. 29 rounds to give him 46 for the day. His seven-point lead over Burrows entering the Tucson competition had been reduced to one point.

The shooters aimed for 75 targets March 1.

“The third day both Seth and Derrick missed their first target of the round, the first round,” Burrows said. “I was able to shoot 25 straight.”

Inman and Mein both hit their final 24 targets of that round.

“I was able to gain one target on Seth and one target on Derrick, which is great,” Burrows said.

That put Burrows and Mein into a tie for the lead while increasing Burrows’ margin over Inman to three points.

“It was definitely a battle,” Burrows said. “The pressure was mounting on all of us.”

Meteorological pressure would also affect Burrows for the final two March 1 rounds.

“It was windy. The light was in and out,” Burrows said.

Mein regained the lead in the second March 1 round when he hit 24 targets, Burrows had 22 successful shots, and Inman obtained 21 hits.

“I can’t blame it all on the weather. I missed targets,” Burrows said.

Mein and Inman each hit 24 targets in the final round of the third day while Burrows once again was successful on 22 of his 25 shots.

“I was faltering at the end of Day Three,” Burrows said. “It wasn’t how I wanted to end the third day going into the final day.”

Since Inman and Burrows both hit 69 targets March 1, Burrows ended the day with the same two-point lead over Inman he had at the start of the day. Mein had 72 hits March 1 and entered the final day leading Burrows by four points.

Burrows took notes during his rounds.

“I referred back to them and was going through my notes to try to figure out what I was doing different and how to implement my game plan,” he said. “I made some adjustments, nothing too major, but the adjustments I made weren’t the correct ones.”

The March 2 activity included two rounds plus the finals. Mein and Inman were both perfect on the first round while Burrows only hit 20 of his 25 targets.

“Twenty is not a good round. It was the opposite of what I needed at that point,” Burrows said.

That gave Inman a three-point lead over Burrows. The shooters had a break of approximately 90 minutes between their March 2 rounds.

Burrows gained one shot on Inman in the second March 2 round. Burrows hit the target on 22 of his shots and Inman hit 21 targets. Mein had 24 hits.

“It wasn’t the best score I put up,” Burrows said.

The shooters were allowed two barrels during the initial 10 rounds, and Burrows hit all 22 of his targets with the first barrel.

“What that told me was the changes I was making were correct,” he said.

Inman's two-point lead for second place carried over into the finals.

“I was still in third,” Burrows said.

The top six shooters competed in the finals which consisted of 50 targets.

“The race for the Olympic Games was only between Derrick, Seth and myself,” Burrows said.

Mein entered the finals leading Inman by nine points and Burrows by 11 points.

“Derrick had jumped well ahead,” Burrows said.

The quest for the second berth was between Inman and Burrows.

“I needed to catch him in the final,” Burrows said. “I tried to ignore pressure, but that was totally useless. The pressure was on. There was no ignoring it. I got back into a game plan and started running the game plan.”

Burrows was not successful on his first two shots but made 22 of his final 23 shots in the first round.

“I was able to get on a roll after I missed the first two,” he said. “It brought Seth and I a little bit closer. The whole round was very neck and neck. He would get on these rolls and he would hit 10 or 15 in a row.”

The finalists had a break of approximately one minute between their first 25 shots and their second round, and they were not allowed to confer with their coaches.

“At this point I was just trying to focus on myself,” Burrows said.

Burrows hit 21 targets in the second round.

“We were both kind of missing,” he said.

It kept Inman from capitalizing on Burrows’ missed shots.

“The second 25 I think he struggled a little bit in the beginning,” Burrows said.

Burrows believed the two were even after 24 targets in the second round.

“It came down to the last target. Seth hit his last target and I had to hit my last target to tie him and go into a sudden-death shootout,” Burrows said.

Inman hit his target, and Burrows began the preparation for his final shot.

“I took too much time getting ready and shut my eyes to call for the target,” he said.

The excessive time calling for the target led to a yellow card warning. A second yellow card would have led to a penalty deduction of one point.

“It kind of changed my thought process a little bit,” Burrows said.

He was successful in balancing preparation with his time limit.

“I ran the clock down to two seconds,” Burrows said. “I hit the target, my last target. The last 17 years of shooting international trap came down to one target, and I hit it.”

Burrows was expecting a shootout to follow.

“I hadn’t even considered that I counted wrong, and it was a huge surprise that I had beat him because I thought that we had tied,” he said.

Inman congratulated Burrows on the second Olympic berth.

“People were clapping and congratulated me,” Burrows said. “It took a minute to sink in. Mentally I was prepared for a shootout, another battle.”

Mein took first place with 520 points. Burrows ended the finals with 509 points.

“I was excited,” Burrows said.

Inman, who became the alternate in case Mein or Burrows cannot compete in Tokyo, had 507 points.

“Seth is an incredible competitor, and it was truly a battle,” Burrows said.

Burrows attended California State University San Marcos after his Fallbrook High School graduation, and in 2009 he relocated to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs and was there for three years.

“Back in 2011 I didn’t make the Olympic team,” Burrows said.

The 2012 Olympic Games were held in London, but the United States did not qualify in men’s trap. The U.S. men were also shut out of the 2016 Olympic Games.

Burrows was away from the sport for three years before a friend invited him to a recreational shooting event in Colorado.

“I got myself back into shooting for fun about a year and a half ago,” he said.

That same friend convinced Burrows to return to shooting at the national level. USA Shooting’s Summer Selection Match competition in Kerrville took place in August 2018, and in his first competition in three years Burrows placed second. He placed third in the fall 2018 National Championships match in Colorado Springs, which returned him to the United States National Team.

“The first match I made the national team and the second match I made the World Cup team,” Burrows said.

In March 2019 Burrows competed in the International Shooting Sports Federation’s World Cup match in Acapulco, Mexico. Burrows and Kayle Browning of Wooster, Arkansas, were one of the mixed trap teams. They hit 149 of 150 targets to set a new world record. The qualifying rounds determined the six finalists, but the scores were not carried over and Burrows and Browning took second place in that match.

Last year’s competition in Tucson determined the Pan American Games shooters. Burrows finished second, behind Haldeman, to earn the trip to Lima.

“The ride’s not over yet. I kept doing well enough to make the Olympic team,” Burrows said.

Browning took first place in the women’s trap Olympic trials and will be competing in Tokyo. Tozier will be an alternate.

The starting date for the 2020 Olympic Games is July 24, and Olympic festival ends Aug. 9. The preliminaries for men’s trap and women's trap at the Asaka Shooting Range will take place July 29 with the finals being held July 30, and all mixed trap competition will be held Aug. 1.

“I can’t thank my family and friends enough for all the support over the years and I would not be able to do any of this if it wasn’t for God. He’s the one who made all this happen,” Burrows said.

Joe Naiman can be reached by email at [email protected].