Something must have been lost in translation with @snowflake post. USFSA didn't choose the world team by pulling a name out of a hat.Was there a literal lottery? I would not have sent Andrew. Not because I don’t like him (I do!) but because he has not had any international experience in several years.
The more likely explanation for Andrew's selection is that he earned it by virtue of his performance at US Nationals. None of the other named contenders for that third spot had a strong argument for upending those results.
Honestly, the "next tier" batch had the opportunity to prove themselves at 4CC, and didn't exactly wow us with their output. I think Andrew did fine at World's. And if even if people think he didn't, I want to hear the reasoning as to why the others would have done better with clear evidence to the contrary.