WoUSPSA – Tori, this must have been a wonderful experience for you!  A Top 5 finish and High Junior, very impressive for your first Single Stack Nationals.  What did you do to prepare for this match?

Tori – Although I started out shooting a 1911 in USPSA & IDPA, I have been competing almost exclusively in the Production & SSP divisions for the past two years. Making the transition from a Glock 9mm to a .45acp 1911 was initially more difficult than I had anticipated. To prepare for this match I went to two local matches which did not go well. I then worked hard in both dry and live fire practice for about 10 days. After this I shot the Area 6 match in GA. Things there started to click. I had a fairly good match at Area 6 which gave me confidence leading into SS Nat’s.

WoUSPSA – You shot very well at Area 6 too.  It must have been excellent preparation for this event.  This was the first year the match had a combined Super Squad with both top men and women.  What was it like to shoot on the Super Squad for a USPSA Nationals?

Tori – Being a junior and to only be shooting competition for three years now, made shooting on the Super Squad a true honor. I didn’t even expect it. I went to register the morning of the shoot and they told me I was squaded with the pros! I learned more than I thought I ever would at this one match and made great memories… Thank you to all the people on the squad for being so friendly, helpful, and for inspiring me to want to learn, practice, improve and share our sport with even more people!!

WoUSPSA – You are quite an inspiration yourself.  At the match, did you have a favorite stage?

Tori – Yes! This is a little opposite from my normal type of stage preference.. but I would have to say the Bills Thrills was my favorite stage. I thought a lot about this stage and asked some people with more experience for advice on how to tackle this tricky set of targets. Once it was my turn to shoot, I was determined to shoot the steel one for one and get 6 acceptable shots off at each drop turner. My plan turned out pretty well and I gained a little more confidence in myself as a shooter.

WoUSPSA – What was your best stage and why did you do so well?

Tori – Bills Thrills was my best stage of the match. I asked advice, prepared a plan and executed it well.

WoUSPSA – What did you think of the stages?

Tori – All sixteen stages were both fun and challenging. However the most fun and challenging stages to me were the dark house stage using a flashlight! The tricky stage with weak hand shots on the targets almost completely covered by no shoots! And the Bill Thrills stage with a par time.

WoUSPSA – What do you like about shooting Single Stack Division?

Tori – Most of all I like shooting the classic 1911!! It just looks and feels right. I also enjoy the extra challenge of breaking stages down by 8.

WoUSPSA – It’s great to hear that you not only shot well, but also had fun.  Do you have any comments you would like to add before we go?

Tori – I would like to encourage everyone to invite a friend or family member to a match. The more people who become involved, the better and more secure our sport will be!

WoUSPSA – Great recommendation, Tori!  Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us and congratulations once again!

Area 6 doesn’t disappoint. Hosted by the South River Gun Club, the competition has always been top notch. Honestly, this match could be a national level championship. There are certainly enough competitors. A whopping 384 shot the match!

The event started out with 12 stages, but Stage 4 – Bridge of Death was thrown out. That still left 11 challenging courses of fire with plenty of props, steel and moving targets. This was a tough match with targets that could be seen from multiple positions and moving targets with critical activators. The fun factor was still high though with a good blend of short and long courses of fire.

There are some matches where you see just a handful of women on the range. Not the case with the Area 6 Championships!  At the helm, Cindy Noyes was once again the match director. There were women working at every level from Chief Range Officer Beth Wingfield and 15 lady range officers to 7 women serving roles in Stats and Registration. Thank you ladies for all your hard work!

I had the pleasure to shoot with two other women in my squad, Randi Rogers and junior shooter Tierani Hendrix. I have enjoyed competing with Randi many times, but it was the first time I had a chance to meet Tierani. The NHL Atlanta Thrashers sponsored a stage where competitors had to activate a swinging target with a hockey stick. An ice hockey player, Tierani showed just how handy she is with a hockey stick on Stage Five – “Face Off.”  She activated the swinger and grabbed her gun from the table with perfect timing.

I also had a chance to catch up Jessie Abbate and Tori Nonaka as they scoped out the stages before their Saturday shoot times. Fresh off teaching yet another successful Babes With Bullets(TM) Ladies Action Shooting Camp, Kay Miculek and Lisa Munson stopped by for a quick hug and hello. I also had a nice visit with Tammie Bordwell after meeting her at the USPSA Nationals last year.   (Click here for a our interview with Tammie on her first nationals.) Katie Harris took the time to introduce herself early Friday morning. Katie is another talented young shooter in Production Division. I just love seeing all the junior females participating in the sport!

I wish I could have stayed to meet and chat with the rest of the women at the match.  I encourage you to take a moment, like Katie did, to introduce yourself to another lady shooter. Strike up a conversation with your fellow female competitors about their match. It could lead to a wonderful friendship. Celebrate the success of the talented and very special women who compete in our sport!

There’s been plenty of coverage on the first Area Championship of the year. Check out Women of USPSA on Facebook for links and in depth ladies results! In closing, a huge thank you to Match Director Cindy Noyes, Area 6 Director Charles Bond and the hard working range officers on another fantastic Area 6 Championships.

Check out these photos taken by Marla Hendrix (Tierani’s Mom) and Paul Erhardt with many more posted to DownRange.TV.

Rebecca T. Jones is no stranger to the winner’s circle.  She’s a former USPSA Open National Champion and is always a top contender.  Rebecca was kind enough to write about her first major match of the season, the USPSA South Carolina Sectional.  Are you just starting up your match season?  Even a champ like Rebecca can feel a little rusty after a long break.  Read how she handled the pressure and what she focused on to claim yet another ladies title.

This was my third time shooting the South Carolina State match and the folks at Mid-Carolina Rifle Club delivered another great match. The stages were a blast. I had awesome squad mates and fantastic weather topped it off. Other than a couple of local club matches earlier this month, this was my first match back after last October’s USPSA and IPSC Nationals. Taking time off from shooting this winter was good for me, but I enjoyed getting behind my gun again now that the southeast has finally thawed. However, I found myself quite rusty at the SC State match! Little things did not “click” for me as they normally do – drawing, reloading, hitting my set-ups, etc.

This match had a little of everything and I learned a lot as the day went on. I noticed I had to really concentrate on my sights harder. Breaking down the stages also took me longer, but I suppose that also could have been because most of the stages at this match were trickier than they initially appeared! We had a good variety of close and far shots, difficult set-ups around props, partial targets, and shooting on the move. We even got to go prone – something I have not done at a major match in several years!

I got to shoot with Sarah Irish, who also shot Open. Sarah kept me on my toes with her athleticism and fast trigger finger! She won High Junior and was even 8th overall on a stage!

Even with being out of practice, I felt pretty good about my performance overall. A few too many points down and a little sluggish, but I managed to shoot 78% of Chris Tilley and came in 2nd in A class, which I was happy with. I shot with a great group of guys and girls, and enjoyed being in the company of my IPSC friends once again.

Thanks again for taking the time to write about the match, Rebecca. Even though you felt a little off your game, congratulations on winning yet another Ladies Open Title!  For all the ladies results, please visit Women of USPSA on Facebook.

Randi Rogers concludes her daily coverage of the Smith & Wesson US Steel Shoot National Championships…

Good Evening Ladies! Today is the third and final day of the US Steel Shoot. The last shot has been fired and our goodbyes have been said and nothing is left but preparing for next year.

The ladies shot awesome today! On our squad we had Jessie Abbate, Kay Miculek, Sarah Irish, and myself shooting Open sighted firearms. We also had Tori Nonaka shooting Limited. It started out a little rough, but by the end everyone had completed an excellent day of shooting.

To see the final scores please visit http://www.ussteelshoot.com/2007MatchInfo.htm. My unofficial memory, as flawed as it may be is; Jessie Abbate came in High Lady and Lady Steel Master. Kay Miculek came in second Lady. I was able to capture third lady and second overall in production.

Unfortunately, there weren’t enough ladies to complete all the categories so the lady scores were lumped together. Hopefully, next year we will have enough ladies to recognize each category.

In the juniors categories we had lots of winners. Tori Nonaka won the Super Junior category, which is 16 and below, and Ashley Bolda came in second. James McGinty won Junior Open centerfire and Junior Limited centerfire, Sonny Morton was second junior Open and Limited, and Cody Tucker was third Junior Open and Limited. Sarah Irish was fourth Junior Open and Junior Limited. It was such a pleasure to see all of these talented young people learning and growing our sport. I hope to see many more in the future.

There were also many juniors that competed in the rimfire categories.

Again I would like to thank all the match staff and I look forward to seeing everyone back next year. Until next time. Shoot Straight Everyone!

Thanks again, Randi and congratulations to all the winners!  Check out the Women of USPSA Facebook page for more results posted later this week.

Randi recaps Day Two…

Good Evening Ladies. Day two of the S&W US Steel Nationals is in the books. Today was another beautiful day. High 70 temperatures and sunshine all day. It was a great day for shooting.

During day two of most Steel Challenge matches is reserved for iron sighted firearms. Competitors competed in Limited, Production, IDPA classes, and revolver classes. Some competitors also shot their open sighted firearms if they were sharing guns or had other scheduling issues.

There were many ladies out on the range today. In the Limited Category Jessie Abbate and Sarah Irish were battling it out. Sarah who is only 17 years old was also competing for the juniors title. For Production there was myself and Tori Nonaka, also a junior shooter. Shooting Open, Ashley Bolda a junior, fought hard battling her way through a migraine. There were also a couple of ladies from Jamaica!

The shooting started out a little rough with our squad on Smoke N’ Hope, but smoothed out quickly. Jessie Abbate gave us all a show by completing four smoking runs on Speed Option. Tori Nonaka was holding her own by shooting three excellent runs on Outer Limits! I enjoyed shooting Showdown, and Sarah had some excellent runs on Roundabout. Ashely’s best stage of the day was her last, Five to Go, she really hunkered down and shot great.

All the ladies shot well and they look forward to shooting again tomorrow. The last day will be for the open sighted firearms. We are all looking forward to a good day and a strong finish. Keep your fingers crossed, the weathermen are predicting rain, but hopefully it will hold off until afternoon.

There were also several junior boys. Trevor Koenig, who I believe is only 11, was shooting on the men’s super squad with his open gun. Sonny Morton shot his limited gun today, and Cody Tucker brought out his Open gun today as well. It is great to see so many young people out there!

Tomorrow I will have the final results and be sure and let you know who all wins what.

We look forward to hearing the results, Randi. Best of luck to all competitors on the final day!

Sarah Irish is one talented young lady and definitely someone to keep your eye on in the future.  This junior shooter tore it up on the stages in Las Vegas at this year’s USPSA Open Nationals.   She even posted a stage win among an extremely talented field of women!  We took opportunity to ask Sarah how she got her start in the sport…

“My family has always done things together: from boating, to motorcycle riding, to horseback riding. But when my dad introduced me to shooting when I was 12 years old, I was hooked.

We spent that winter at the indoor range practicing on paper targets.  The indoor range offered pin shoots one night a week and after watching it awhile, Dad and I gave it a try. It was more challenging than paper, but it wasn’t long before I held the record for fastest time on a table of 5 pins at 15 yards – 1.96 seconds with my Ruger 10-22. Dad met a guy at the pin shoots who shoots USPSA matches and invited us to give it a try. At the end of October that year, Dad and I went to the match. That was the beginning of our latest family hobby: USPSA. Shooting as a family is a truly rewarding experience. Although my parents and I shoot in different divisions, we are continually learning things from each other to improve our shooting.

In 2009, we traveled to many matches. For me, this was a rewarding experience because I got to see the best shooters and learn their techniques. In September, I flew out to Las Vegas for the Open Nationals. It was my first nationals, so naturally I was a little bit nervous. However when I saw that I was squadded with some of the best female shooters, I became very excited. I realized how beneficial squadding with better shooters is at the awards ceremony for the match. When it was announced that I was high lady on a stage, I was truly surprised. As a junior shooter, I have all sorts of time constraints from school and extracurricular activities, but traveling to matches and shooting as a family are both definitely worth it.”