Michel Repeats As Area 4 Open Pistol Champion

SEDRO-WOOLLEY, Wash. — For the second year in a row, and the eighth time overall, Max Michel won the Open division title at the U.S. Practical Shooting Association’s (USPSA) 2010 Area 4 Handgun Championship sponsored by firearms maker STI International.

The Team Sig Sauer shooter and Covington, La. resident dominated the match winning nine of the 12 stages and leading the field of 77 competitors, including eight Grand Masters and 13 Masters, from start to finish.

Michel won the title with a final score of 1409.7433. This is the second regional Open title Michel has won this season.

“Max is starting the season off strong, posting back-to-back Area wins. With his commanding Area 4 win, Max is clearly the man to beat in the Open division,” said Michael Voigt, president of USPSA.

Finishing 138 points behind Michel in second place was Eddie Garcia of Mesa, Ariz. who won the tenth stage of the match and finished with a score of 1271.4935.

Third through fifth place went to a trio of Texans. Junior shooter Nicholas Neel of Plano took third with a score of 1215.9923. David Re of Pflugerville, who won the fourth stage of the match, claimed the fourth place spot while Lee Neel of Plano rounded out the top five with a score of 1145.5441.

In the closest contest of the Area 4 match, Smith & Wesson’s Kay Miculek of Princeton, La. narrowly edged out Athena Lee of Katy, Texas to claim the Lady’s Open title.

With the match on the line, Miculek posted a stage winning score of 116.0282 to Lee’s 113.3370 on the last stage of the match giving her a 2.6912 point advantage that was enough to overtake Lee for the win.

Miculek finished the match with a final score of 1064.6003, just 1.1969 points over Lee’s 1063.4034. The win is third by a Team Smith & Wesson member.

Wrapping up the Open division highlights were seniors category winners Ted Bonnet of Windcrest, Texas who finished 10th overall and claimed the Senior Open title with 1073.5031, and Ed Shadbolt of Mineola, Texas taking the Super Senior Open title with a score of 810.4674.

The STI Area 4 Handgun Championship was held at the Shootout Range in Princeton, La. The match drew 230 top shooters from Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas, the four states that make up Area 4, as well as Arizona, California, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin and Canada.