Michel Sweeps USPSA Area Championships With Area 2 Win

Photo by Yamil Sued

SEDRO-WOOLLEY, Wash. – Max Michael, the captain of the Sig Sauer shooting team from Covington, La., won the Open division title at the U.S. Practical Shooting Association’s (USPSA) Area 2 Regional Handgun Championship this past weekend, and in doing so finished a first ever clean sweep of all eight USPSA regionals.

Michel, who finished the match with a final score of 1135.0241 points, had already racked up seven Open division regional wins starting with the Area 6 Championship in April. He continued to pick up titles throughout the year, threatening not only to sweep the Area matches but also put together a perfect season with the addition of the National Championship title.

While Michel fell short of a true perfect season when K.C. Eusebio out-gunned him for the national title last month, his victory at the Area 2 Championship put him squarely in the USPSA record books as the first ever to win the same division title across all eight matches.

Photo by Yamil Sued

“Max is undoubtedly one of the best Open division shooters USPSA has ever had. This division does not lack for stiff competition so Max’s unprecedented sweep of all eight Area matches is a feat that is likely to stand for many years to come,” said USPSA President Michael Voigt who finished second to Michel in the competition.

Among those who tried, but failed, to derail Michel’s historic run were Voigt, the Chino, Calif. shooter considered by many to be one of the nation’s best all around shooters, who finished more than 43 points behind with a finals score of 1091.1915 points.

A trio of Arizona shooters followed closely behind with Eddie Garcia of Mesa claiming third with 1079.8018, Joe Bridgman of Scottsdale taking fourth with 1078.5716 and Peoria’s Nick Saiti in fifth with 1049.8493.

Also in Open division competition, Eva Micklethwaite of Tempe, Ariz. won the Lady’s title for the second year in a row. Don Bednorz, the Senior Open National Champion from Alamogordo, N.M., won while the Super Senior Open National Champion Ralph Arredondo of San Dimas, Calif. won the Area 2 Super Senior Open title.

The USPSA Area 2 Championship was held at the Rio Salado Sportsman’s Club in Mesa, Ariz. and drew more than 370 top competition shooters – 141 of which competed for the Open division title. Area 2 is the Southwest region within USPSA, one of the eight shooting regions in the country, and is made up of Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii and New Mexico but shooters from around the country attended.

To learn more about USPSA, or to become a member, visit USPSA.org, follow @USPSA_Shooting on Twitter or visit the Practical Shooting blog.