Debbie Keehart Cruises To USPSA Lady’s Limited Title

Keehart won all but one stage to take the Area 1 Women's Limited title. Photo by Yamil Sued

SEDRO-WOOLLEY, Wash. – Mesa, Arizona’s Debbie Keehart made it look easy as she dominated the Women’s Limited division field by winning 10 of 11 stages and cruising to victory at the  2010 U.S. Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) Area 1 Regional Handgun Championship this past weekend.

The match, which was held June 24-27 at the South East Idaho Practical Shooters range in Idaho Falls, Idaho, drew 325 top shooters with 110 of them competing in the Limited division.

“Anytime you look at the USPSA match results you’ll find Debbie’s name at or near the top, and her commanding performance at this year’s Area 1 Championship shows why,” said Michael Voigt, president of the U.S. Practical Shooting Association.

Keehart finished the match with a final score of 675.7234. Finishing a distant second was Christie King of Yakima Washington who posted a score of 374.6296. Finishing third and fourth were Eris Merritt of Baker City, Ore., and Melinda Gregston of Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Area 1 is one of the eight USPSA shooting regions in the country and is made up of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming, but shooters from 12 other states, as well as Canada, competed for the championship title in USPSA’s Open, Limited, Limited-10, Production, Revolver and Single Stack divisions.

The sport of Practical Shooting was formally established in 1976 but traces its roots back to the 1950’s and the quick draw “leather slap” competitions that grew out of America’s love affair with the TV westerns of that era.

Today the sport boasts more than 19,000 shooters and represents the upper echelon of the shooting sports with many of its top competitors actively training law enforcement and military units on the shooting techniques and equipment developed in competition.

For full match results, or information on the sport of practical shooting, visit www.USPSA.org or follow @USPSA_Shooting on Twitter.