Irish Skates By Micklethwaite to Area 5 Lady’s Open Title

Sarah Irish takes the Area 5 Open title. Photo courtesy of Sarah Irish

Eva Micklethwaite battled back but fell short on the final stage of the match. Photo by Paul Erhardt

SEDRO-WOOLLEY, Wash. — In the Women’s Open contest at the 2010 U.S. Practical Shooting Association’s (USPSA) Canyon Creek Area 5 Handgun Championship, Sarah Irish of Dearborn, Mich., skated past Eva Micklethwaite of Tempe, Ariz., by the narrowest of margins, just 0.7408 points, to win the title in a back-and-forth battle that lasted the entire match.

Micklethwaite took the early lead, starting the match with two of her five stage wins. However, Irish, who was the 2009 runner-up, quickly countered by winning the next six stages and taking the lead after stage seven.

Micklethwaite then began battling back.

She won the next three stages and ate away at Irish’s lead, which had grown to over 17 points. The two then headed to the final stage with Michlethwaite trailing by just 5.7905.

On the twelfth and final stage, Micklethwaite made her move and shot 54.8271 to finish with a final score of 964.6108 points and a chance to win her second career regional title.

However, it was not to be, as Irish faced down the pressure and posted a 49.7774 on the stage, a score good enough to help her hold on to victory with her final point total of 965.3516.

“The women’s Open contest was the nail-biter of the match. It was a classic back-and-forth between two outstanding competitors with Sarah holding on for the win over Eva. I think it’s safe to say we all look forward to this rematch in the future,” said Michael Voigt, president of USPSA.

Elsewhere in the Open division, Team Sig shooter Max Michel of Covington, La., recorded his third consecutive USPSA regional win of the season.

Nicholas Neel of Plano, Texas, finished fifth overall to take the Junior Open title, while in the senior categories, Paul Thompson of Deerfield, Ill., took the Senior Open title and Bruce Carby of Byron, Ill., claimed the Super Senior title.

Hosted by the Tri County Gun Club in Polo, Ill., and sponsored by Canyon Creek, the Area 5 match grew 22.5% over the previous year with a total of 337 top shooters from around the country, as well as Canada, competing for a title in one of six divisions.

Area 5 is one of the eight USPSA shooting regions in the country and is made up of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

The next regional match on the USPSA calendar is the 2010 USPSA Area 1 Pistol championship scheduled for June 24 through 27 in Idaho Falls, Idaho. For more information, visit www.uspsa.org.