Check out this video compilation of some of the Women of USPSA at the 2010 Single Stack Nationals.

 
Congratulations again to the Top 8 Ladies:
1st – Julie Golob
2nd – Sara Dunivin
3rd – Kippi Leatham
4th – Nancy Huspek
5th – Tori Nonaka
6th – Lisa Munson
7th – TD Roe
8th – Shannan Chada

Next year, we hope to have even more women shooting the Single Stack Nationals! Give it a whirl, ladies – It’s a lot of fun!

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.

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!

Continuing coverage of the Smith & Wesson US Steel Shoot National Championships with Randi Rogers…

Hello Ladies! Today is Friday March 26th, 2010 and the first day of the US Steel Nationals is in the history books. The day dawned beautifully with a few clouds and a comfortable temperature perfect for shooting. There was rain Thursday night, but everything cleared up by this morning. A few spectators braved the mud, there were several media representatives and a baby alligator even made an appearance, but stayed safely in his pond.

In steel challenge competitions, competitors have the option of shooting the match multiple times with different firearms. Most competitors choose to shoot a rimfire category, an iron sight centerfire category, and an open sighted centerfire category. This will allow them to compete for the title of “Steel Master”. The first day of most steel challenge competitions is reserved for the rimfire categories.

There are several different rimfire categories. There are iron sight .22, open sight .22, iron sight .22 revolver, and open sight .22 revolver. During competition today I saw many different kinds of rimfire firearms. There were Brownings, Smith & Wesson 41’s, conversion kits for 1911’s, conversion kits for SigSauers, and revolvers too. Not only that, but several companies, such as Tactical Solutions, sell aftermarket barrels. The possibilities are almost limitless.

Just like any shooting match the shooting was top quality and the competition was fierce. Several ladies competitor participated in the open rimfire category. I saw several ladies shooting for the Open rimfire category. On my squad there was myself, Jessie Abbate, and Kay Miculek. That is not even including the juniors.

Our squad started on Smoke N’ Hope and ended on Five to Go. We were able to shoot through lunch and finished about two o’clock. The day started out with everyone trying hard and working to do their best. The most difficult part of the rimfire event is that rimfire firearms are prone to malfunctions. For the most part everyone had a good day and the firearms and ammunition worked well. Kay Miculek shot an excellent score on the stage Showdown and Jessie Abbate shot the most amazing Roundabout I have ever seen. I think that my favorite stage today was Outer Limits. I shot three good runs right from the get go and got to play on the fourth! Scores were not posted when I left the range this afternoon but from what I have heard the unofficial winner was Jessie Abbate! Way to go girl.

However, the tightest competition I saw was in the Junior Girls Open rimfire. On my squad along there were three very beautiful and talented young ladies; Tori Nonaka, Ashley Bolda, and Sarah Irish. Each girl shot great! Ashley and Sarah were both shooting guns with Tactical Solutions barrels and accessories beautifully with their pink and red guns. Tori was shooting an S&W 41 with a Bully barrel. The competition was fierce, and I will let everyone know who won as soon as the scores come out.

There was also plenty of competition in the Junior boys categories as well. I saw three excellent juniors at the shooter’s meeting. Cody Tucker, Sonny Morton, and Trevor Koenig were all there preparing to take on the world. From what I saw today the future of our sport is in good hands.

Congratulations to all those who competed in the rimfire event. Tomorrow will start the centerfire events for most competitors. For those shooting an iron sighted centerfire and an open sighted centerfire the iron sights will compete tomorrow. This will include Limited, Production, the IDPA categories, and the iron sighted revolvers as well. The range was open for practice after the match and I saw several great competitors sharpening their iron sight skills. I look forward the shooting tomorrow is promises to be great.

Finally, a BIG thank you to all the match staff, especially Derek Janowicz and Mike Calloway. We couldn’t compete without your help and support and we are all very grateful.

Stay tuned for more from Randi as she continues to cover the match for Women of USPSA!

We couldn’t be more excited to have a day-by-day account of the Smith & Wesson US Steel Shoot National Championships through the eyes of the talented Randi Rogers.  Not only is Randi vying for four titles (Open, Production, Open Rimfire and Steel Master) she has also graciously offered to keep us posted on the latest from the match.  Thanks, Randi!!!

Here’s her first update:

Hello Ladies! Today is Thursday March 25, 2010 and competitors are gathering in sunny Titusville, FL for the US Steel Nationals for some fast paced competition.

The Smith & Wesson US Steel Nationals is the national competition for the Steel Challenge Shooting Association. For those who aren’t familiar with Steel Challenge, each of the eight stages consists of 5 steel targets of different sizes and distances. Each stage has a “stop” plate that must be shot last. Seven of the eight stages are shot five times with the competitors lowest four times being kept for score. The final stage is shot four times with the competitors fastest three times kept for score. A miss is worth three seconds, and the fastest time wins the match. Final round count for the match is a minimum of 185 rounds.

If you have never shot any Steel Challenge matches it is a great sport to look into. There is nothing more satisfying than hearing the ding of the steel plate after you hit it. It is also an easy sport to get into because you can compete with a rimfire handgun. This also makes it great for juniors of all ages.

The regular match starts tomorrow with most competitors shooting the rimfire event. There are four rimfire categories; iron sight .22, open sight .22, iron sight revolver .22 and open sight revolver .22. Today there were several competitors out on the range practicing and working out last minute bugs. So far the ladies I have seen are Jessie Abbate, Tori Nonaka, Ashley Bolda, and Kay Miculek. It looks like competition is going to be fierce this year!

Tomorrow I will be shooting the Open Sight .22 category. Wish me luck and stay tuned for more info!

Thanks, Randi! Good luck is on its way and best wishes to all the competitors in the match.

With the USPSA Handgun Nationals just a few days away, we’re recapping the top shooters of the year, based on the previously hosted USPSA Area Matches around the country.  Unfortunately, Area 2 & 4 aren’t scheduled until later in 2009, but we still have plenty of Area Champions to put upon our pedestal!  Congratulations to all of our Area Winners!

We are also sending well wishes and good luck to each and every woman who is headed to Las Vegas this week for our USPSA Back-To-Back National Championships! And remember, what happens in Vegas …  stays in Vegas!   (Except for what happens at the range.  We’ll proudly be posting updates and results for all categories of each match via Twitter, Facebook, WomenOfUSPSA.com & right here on the blog.)

If you ever get a chance to compete at one of these top-notch Area Matches, by the way, grab it! The experience, effort, creativity and organization that go into these events are practically unmatched!

2009 USPSA Area Match Championship Results – to date:

AREA 1 – Held June 18 through 21 in Parma, Idaho at the Parma Rod & Gun Club. Match Director – Tim Egan
LIMITED – Lisa Munson 1st, Christie King 2nd
LIMITED-10 – Dorrie Davis 1st
OPEN - Jenny Chu 1st,  Carrie Homburg 2nd
PRODUCTION – Carrie Jamrogowicz 1st, Irina Ionescu 2nd
SINGLE STACK – Laura Seurer 1st, Nancy Marrs 2nd

AREA 2 – Begins November 12, 2009 at  Rio Salado Sportsmans Club in Mesa, Arizona.  Match Directors – Paul Caudill & Bob LaMarca

AREA 3 – Held July 30 through August 2 in Omaha, Nebraska.  Hosted by the Eastern Nebraska Practical Shooters.  Match Director – Chris Davies
LIMITED – Nancy Huspek 1st, Gail McLean 2nd
OPEN - Sue VanBlaricum 1st, Bobbi Wagner 2nd
PRODUCTION – Carrie Jamrogowicz 1st, Lisa Johnson 2nd

AREA 4 – Begins October 8, 2009 at the Double Tap Ranch in Wichita Falls, Texas. Match Director – Ken Cobb

AREA 5 – Held June 19 through 21 at the South Kent Sportsmans Club in Dorr, Michigan.  Match Director – Carl Provan
LIMITED – Gail McLean 1st, Susan Powel 2nd
OPEN - Doni Spencer 1st, Sarah Irish 2nd
PRODUCTION – Carrie Carlson 1st
REVOLVER - Sue Irish 1st
SINGLE STACK -TD Roe 1st, Alma Lenard 2nd 

AREA 6 – Held April 17 through 19 at the South River Gun Club in Covington, Georgia.  Match Director – our very own Cindy Noyes!
LIMITED – Jessie Abbate 1st, Tracy Iradi 2nd
LIMITED-10 – Randi Rogers 1st, Kay Miculek 2nd
OPEN - Megan Francisco 1st, Kaci Cochran 2nd
PRODUCTION – Beth Wingfield 1st, Melita Ellington 2nd
REVOLVER -Sue Irish 1st
SINGLE STACK – Nancy Huspek 1st 

AREA 7 – Held August 5 through 9 in Fulton, New York at Pathfinder Fish & Game (which is Julie G’s original home-town range).  Match Director – Milford Lovett
LIMITED – Donna Major 1st, Kathie Sierpina 2nd
LIMITED-10 – Caron Brooks 1st, Evelyn Freeman 2nd
OPEN - Rebecca Jones 1st, Sheila Brey 2nd
REVOLVER -Sue Jenks 1st, Jacqueline Scott 2nd

AREA 8 – Held August 27 through 30 at the Fredericksburg Rod & Gun Club in historic Fredericksburg, Virginia. Match Director – Lew Walker
LIMITED – Jessie Abbate 1st, Tracy Iradi 2nd
LIMITED-10 – Caron Brooks 1st
OPEN - Rebecca Jones 1st, Megan Francisco 2nd
PRODUCTION -Randi Rogers 1st, Tori Nonaka 2nd
REVOLVER -Sue Irish 1st
SINGLE STACK – Tracy Deegan 1st

Well, that’s a wrap!  We’ll close our Road to the Nationals coverage by congratulating the 2008 USPSA Ladies Handgun National Champions:

• Open National Champion – Rebecca T. Jones
• Limited National Champion – Jessie Abbate
• Limited-10 National Champion – Jessie Abbate
• Single Stack National Champion – Lisa Munson
• Production National Champion – Randi Rogers
• Revolver National Champion – Annette Aysen
   

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!