Happy holidays, everyone. We here at "Inside USA Shooting" hope you are having a great season thus far.

2008 is winding down, and for USA Shooting that means handing out awards for the best shooting athletes of the year. Each year USAS selects one female shooter and one male shooter for the honor. This year's "2008 USAS Athletes of the Year" are both shotgun shooters and Olympic medalists in Beijing: Kim Rhode for the women and Glenn Eller for the men.

The selections are not huge surprises, considering the great performances Eller and Rhode had all year. It's important to note that the "Athlete of the Year" selection for USAS is not subjective – like, for example, the Sports Illustrated annual award which is based largely on editorial discussion and argument. The USAS athletes are selected through a points system that takes into account USAS Policies and Procedures, as well as performances.

Rhode's title as "USAS Female Athlete of the Year" gives her back-to-back claims to that title: She was also the 2007 USAS Female Athlete of the year. She earned the award this year for performances like her Beijing Olympic silver medal in skeet, her silver medal at the World Cup (Texas) in May, fourth place finishes at the World Cup in Germany and Belarus, and for being named 2008 National Champion. On top of that, Rhode finished second at the Shotgun Fall Selection Match, earning her a spot on the 2009 World Shotgun Championship Team.

The California native and four-time Olympic Medal winner has been plenty busy away from the range, gearing up for her wedding next spring. It'll be fun to watch next year as one of the greatest shooters in American sport shooting history balances her life while still competing at the highest level.

Double trap shooter Glen Eller entered 2008 hot and stayed that way all year en route to earning his USAS Male Athlete of the Year award. He took silver at the World Cup in Beijing in April, then fourth place at the World Cups in Texas and Germany, and finished first at the Olympic Selection Match. He then put an exclamation point on his already impressive career with a double trap gold medal at the Beijing Games.

It seems like every single shotgun competition we covered this year on "Inside USA Shooting" had the same progression of events: Spectators and competitors spend the first few days talking about how good the Men's Double Trap shooters are, and how deep the talent is: Besides Eller, there's Jeff Holguin, Josh Richmond and Bill Keever, all from the Army Marksmanship Unit and all capable of taking the top spot at any event. But this year it seemed like "The Four Horsemen" (as they are called) would battle for the first few rounds, virtually rotating between the top four spots ... until Eller would stick up a couple of rounds of 49 out of 50 or 50 out of 50. Next thing you know, entering the finals, Eller would have a six or eight point lead over the field and would cruise to victory. Now that may be stretching the facts a bit, because every competition is different, but take it from a guy who was at many of those events: This year it just "felt" like Eller would pull away and win. He was just that hot all year. He is a very deserving recipient of the USAS Male Athlete of the Year award.

Eller and Rhode will now have their names submitted to the U.S. Olympic Committee for consideration for the 2008 USOC Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year awards. The top athletes from each sport within the USOC are nominated for the coveted recognition as the top overall athletes in the entire USOC family.

While Eller and Rhode were selected as the overall USAS Athletes of the Year, USA Shooting also acknowledges the best shooters from each discipline, based on who earned the highest number of points in each discipline. This year's winners are Jamie Beyerle for women's rifle, Matt Emmons for men's rifle, and Jason Turner for men's pistol.