The 2009 Steel Challenge World Speed Shooting Championships in Piru, CA is the last major event in our coverage of the Road to the Nationals.  Held August 13-16, the best steel shooters in the world hit the range to compete in the eight challenge Steel Challenge courses of fire.  Check out our coverage of the S&W US Steel Shoot Nationals for more info about the courses of fire and crowned national champions.

There were several new faces from USPSA at the match this year.  Junior Shooter Tori Nonaka made her Steel Challenge debut in Production and Rimfire divisions.  Tori is definitely one to watch out for in the future!  Also new to competing at The Challenge this year was Tasha Hanish.  Tasha burst onto the USPSA scene as a junior over a decade ago.  Always a top contender, she took several years off to start a family. Jumping back on the competition circuit full time this season, she has a new sponsor, blog and outlook on competing. Welcome back Tasha!

We were sad to see that two of the best lady open shooters in the world, Athena Lee and Rebecca T. Jones were not able to make it to this year’s Challenge.  Athena is no stranger to the winner’s circle at Steel Challenge, winning in 2002 & 2003.  She is also a two-time winner of the coveted IPSC Ladies World Title.  Rebecca is a real contender in Steel Challenge as well and has placed in the top 5 at both the Steel Challenge and the S&W US Steel Nationals. She is also the reigning 2008 USPSA Open Ladies National Champion.  We missed both their amazing skills and charming personalities on the range this year.  We hope to see you next year!

What should you know about this year’s Steel Challenge?
Well, simply the women were power houses! Jessie Abbate was brilliant.  She dominated in every division she competed in – Open, Limited, Rimfire and Steel Master.  To say she won Top Lady is just the tip of the iceberg.  We felt Jessie’s performance was so amazing that only she could put it into words and jumped at the opportunity to interview Jessie.

Women of USPSA: First of all, CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Jessie: Aw, thanks!

Women of USPSA: So, in all how many world records did you shatter at this year’s Steel Challenge?

Jessie: In all I think it was 21.  Let’s see… 5 Open Stage Records, records on stages and overall in both Rimfire and Limited and then the overall Ladies Open Record.

Women of USPSA: Winning the S&W US Steel Nationals earlier this year, did you do anything different to prepare for Steel Challenge?

Jessie: I did.  I changed my training approach.  One thing I focused on was being able to shoot a match cold.  I practiced shooting the full match and that really gave me an idea of what I could do.

Women of USPSA: Did you ever imagine you would do so well at the Steel Challenge?

Jessie: As a shooter, we all hope to win and win big.  So yes, I hoped to, but I never dreamed it.  I have broken the 90 second barrier in practice, but that’s practice.  To break 100 seconds in the match was something I felt I could do and was a good goal.

Women of USPSA: 100 seconds is a great feat! That also explains why you were moved to tears on the range after learning you broke 95 seconds.

Jessie: I couldn’t believe it at first.  I knew I shot well, but to do that.  It’s something that will always stay with me.

Women of USPSA: How do you feel heading into the USPSA Nationals after such a phenomenal performance?

Jessie: Well I am jacked about winning Steel Challenge, but I am careful not to get overconfident.  You can’t take anything for granted.  Steel Challenge is stand and shoot match.  In USPSA you have so many factors.  I shot a good match at Area 8 as a warm up and it gave me some great feedback on what to work on.

We’d like to thank Jessie for taking the time to talk with us. Jessie’s performance at the Steel Challenge was an out-of-the-ballpark homerun!  She not only broke women’s world records, she placed a phenomenal 18th Overall in the combined match results.

Here are the results for the Top 3 Women in Open, Limited, Rimfire & Steel Master:

Open:

1. Jessie Abbate – 94.94  (14th Place Open)
2. Kay Miculek – 104.14
3. Julie Golob – 106.87

Limited:

1. Jessie Abbate – 104.79 (9th Overall)
2. Kay Miculek – 122.19
3. Tasha Hanish – 141.66

Rimfire:

1. Jessie Abbate – 77.95 (6th Overall)
2. Kay Miculek – 82.93 (8th Overall)
3. Tori Nonaka – 90.93 (High Junior)

Steel Master:

1. Jessie Abbate
2. Kay Miculek
3. Randi Rogers

New to The Challenge this year was USPSA Production Division featuring production legal guns, holsters and 10 round capacity.  Julie Golob also had a great performance posting impressive scores that would have placed her 2nd Woman in the faster Limited Division. She won the Ladies Production World Title and finished with a total time of 116.61, 2nd Place Overall behind the sport’s legendary Rob Leatham.

Top 3 Women in Production:

1. Julie Golob – 116.61 (2nd Overall)
2. Randi Rogers – 127.90 (3rd Overall)
3. Tori Nonaka – 132.59 (6th Overall)

In Revolver, Molly Smith and IRC champion Annette Aysen faced off in Iron Sight Revolver.  Molly placed 8th Overall with a 142.76 that was enough to win over Annette’s 12th Overall finish and 149.05 seconds.  Janet Leach earned the win in Optical Revolver with 164.40 over fellow competitor Krista Terry.

We’d also like to congratulate Janae Sarabia for winning Pre-Teen Junior Female in Open Division and Molly Smith in Pre-Teen Junior Female in Rimfire.  These young ladies are an inspiration to junior shooters everywhere!

June 5-7, 2009 the best revolver shooters in the world met to compete in the 18th Annual Smith & Wesson International Revolver Championships (IRC) in sunny San Luis Obispo, CA.   The match consisted of 12 challenging courses of fire all with wheel guns, of course!

In iron sight revolver divisions, Annette Aysen has been synonymous with Ladies Revolver Champion for years in several shooting sports including ICORE, USPSA, Steel Challenge and American Handgunner. It was no surprise when she once again dominated at this year’s IRC.  Annette placed 21st overall in Limited and 5th place A Class. Her total score of 359.34 seconds was over 11 seconds faster than 2nd Woman, Lisa Farrell – a revolver champion many times over herself.

Rounding out the Top 5 Limited Ladies:

1. Annette Aysen
2. Lisa Farrell
3. Sharon Dickey
4. Tabatha Averyt
5. Molly Smith (Junior)

Making her debut at the IRC, Julie Golob competed in the Open Division.   Shooting a full 25 seconds faster than 2nd Place Lady Beate Sexton, Julie added Women’s Open Revolver Champion to her list of many titles.

Rounding out the Top 5 Ladies in Open:

1. Julie Golob
2. Beate Sexton
3. Rhonda Skelton
4. Janae Sarabia (Junior)
5. Janet Leach

We’d also like to extend congratulations to the upcoming junior ladies talent Janae Sarabia, Rachel Crow and Molly Smith!  Way to go, girls!