Julie Golob Claims Second IRC Open Revolver Title…Again

Julie G. chased down the Open div. leader throughout the match to finally overtake her on the last stage. Photo by Yamil Sued

LOS OSOS, Calif. — Julie Golob of Glasgow, Mont. pulled a rabbit out of the hat by coming from behind on the very last stage of the match to win her second consecutive Lady’s Open title at the 2010 Smith & Wesson International Revolver Championships (IRC) held this past weekend in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

Golob, who is captain of the Smith & Wesson shooting team, helped lead an effort that brought home a total of nine titles from this year’s match.

The win represents the third major victory of the shooting season for Golob, who as captain of the Smith & Wesson shooting team helped lead an effort that brought home a total of nine titles from this year’s match.

“I go into the IRC with a fresh outlook, expecting to be challenged. Since I don’t routinely shoot revolvers in competition, and I only put a couple hundred rounds downrange in practice, coming out of this match with another women’s title is pretty special,” said Golob.

Golob might be rethinking her practice strategy for 2011 as this year she found herself behind an unlikely competitor, the 13-year-old up-and-comer Janae Sarabia of Lompoc, Calif. who Golob recently recruited to join Team Smith & Wesson.

Janae Sarabia had 10-time national champion Julie Golob on the ropes until the final stage of the match. Photo by Yamil Sued

The young shooter claimed the lead from the start and picked up five stage wins while Golob and the rest of the women’s field trailed. Golob herself won four of the 12 stages in the match but wasn’t able to close the gap until the 11th stage, setting up a final stage do-or-die for a woman considered one of the best shooters in the world.

“In our sport, we place a very high premium on accuracy,” explained Art Leach of ICORE. “The final stage of our championship is our standards stage which requires shooters to put rounds into a four inch x-ring of six targets at 50, 25, 10 and 3 yards. Because of the difficulty of this stage, it can either make or break a shooter, which is exactly what happened in the women’s contest.”

With just 0.07 seconds between her and Sarabia, Golob attacked the standards stage in a time of 48.94 to end the match in 404.59 seconds.

Sarabia was not as lucky as she gave up ground, shooting the stage in 62.88 for a final time of 417.83 that not only took her out of first, but moved her to third behind Flora Yang of Cerritos, Calif. who finished second with a time of 413.87.

Despite falling to third, Golob’s newest team member was able to capture the Junior Open title, giving her captain one of those nine team titles.

Rounding out the top five were Janet Leach of Los Osos, Calif. in fourth with 476.63 and another junior member of Team Smith & Wesson, Rachel Crow of Antioch, Calif. in fifth in a time of 500.19.

Organized by the International Confederation of Revolver Enthusiasts (ICORE), and held this past weekend in San Luis Obispo, Calif. at Hogue Action Pistol Range at the San Luis Obispo Sportsmen’s Association, the IRC drew more than 200 top revolver shooters, representing 22 states and six foreign nations. Titles were awarded in the Open, Limited or Retro divisions with scoring based on time and accuracy where time penalties are accrued for misses and shots outside the x-ring.

For further information on ICORE and the 19th Annual Smith & Wesson International Revolver Championships, or to find a club near you, visit www.icore.org.