Tony Bustos, sophomore in mechanical engineering and member of the ISU Trap and Skeet Club, will be traveling to Athens, Greece, in August as an alternate in the 2004 Summer Olympic games.

By qualifying as an alternate, Bustos is on the seven-member U.S. Junior Olympic team, which travels with the three main Olympians if anyone should need a replacement. The senior Olympic team consists of three shooters, two men and a woman.

Though Bustos has only been competitively shooting for two years, he grew up an avid hunter. After his start in competitive shooting at the 2002 Collegiate National Championships in San Antonio, Bustos made the U.S. team at last year’s nationals. Since that time he has steadily been training for this summer’s Olympics.

“I think it was more of a surprise than anything,” Bustos said. “I hadn’t shot anything from October till Spring Break. The closest international trap shooting facility is located in Kansas City, more than 250 miles away.”

Bustos was advised not to shoot any American traps because it would interfere with the international style of training. He was forced to take the winter off, and still made the cut on the prestigious squad.

The shoots featured 20 U.S. national champions who qualified at Colorado Springs, Colo., last July. The second invitation-only qualifying shoot was also held there last October.

Bustos competed against a field of 49 men and 13 women to gain one of the three slots on the International Trap Team.

“I had to make it through the nationals to get an invitation to the fall selection match. And the last and final Olympic qualifying shoot was during Spring Break this year,” Bustos said.

The final team-selection match was held at the Fort Benning military base in Columbus, Ga. There, Olympians were selected and will compete in the games Aug. 14-22.

International trap is the style of shooting Bustos will use for the United States in Athens. It’s a much harder style with the “birds” flying at approximately 90-120 mph, he said. In American trap, which is the norm in this area, the clay targets fly at 45-60 mph. The birds in American style are thrown out in different angles, but always at the same height. The difficulty rises in international trap.

“You have to shoot a faster load, and the birds come out at any direction, straight up and parallel to the ground [at] extreme angles,” Bustos said.

Fifteen throwers are enclosed in an underground bunker 18 yards in front of the shooter to make their tosses. The targets are made of a thicker material to withstand the high-speed ejection from the throwers.

It is commonplace for 100-200 continuous birds to be thrown in an American shoot. In international trap, that number is unheard of. Even the most experienced trap shooters may break only 40-60 of 100 birds.

“At the final Olympic team selection, the highest score all week was 98 out of 100 — very difficult,” Bustos said.

As well as making the trip to the Olympics, Bustos will be busy traveling other places with the U.S. Junior Olympic team.

This year the team will trek to Argentina, Czech Republic and Poland for various trap championships.

Bustos said his premier trip overseas to Athens should be interesting.

“It still hasn’t sunk in yet,” Bustos said. “The committee is supposed to be sending the USA vest and stuff to me soon, so maybe it’ll hit me then.”