Miguez’s Limited Win Proves He’s Area 1’s Top Shot

Miguez won his 2nd Limited regional title of the season. Photo courtesy Blake Miguez

SEDRO-WOOLLEY, Wash. — Blake Miguez of New Iberia, La., a contestant on the Top Shot reality shooting show, captured his second Limited division regional title of the shooting season by winning five of 11 stages at the 2010 U.S. Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) Area 1 Regional Handgun Championship.

Miguez, who is a ranked a Grand Master, the highest skill level in the sport, led the field of 110 shooters, including five other Grand Masters and 12 Masters, for nearly the entire match. His final score of 1157.0408 outpaced runner up Ron Avery of Olathe, Colo. by more than 33 points.

“With the Area 4, and now Area 1 Limited titles under his belt, Blake is headed for a big shooting season. As one of our best shooters in the division, he’ll be one to watch at this year’s national championship,” said Michael Voigt, president of the U.S. Practical Shooting Association.

Avery, a Grand Master, won three stages and posted a final score of 1123.6892 to claim second. Another Grand Master, Todd Jarrett of Hopewell, Va., finished third winning two stages on his way to a match score of 1118.3231.

Master level shooters Charlie Perez of Parker, Colo., and Steve Shrouffe of Mesa, Ariz., placed fourth and fifth with scores of 1015.1435 and 999.3752 respectively.

Also claiming Limited division titles were Debbie Keehart of Mesa, Ariz., who won the Women’s Limited title, Hayden Hixson of Meridian, Idaho, who captured the Junior Limited crown, Scott Leroux of Maple Valley, Wash., who finished 10th overall to take the Senior Limited contest, and Super Senior Limited winner Thomas Sparacino of Santa Clara, Calif.

The match, which was held June 24-27 at the South East Idaho Practical Shooters range in Idaho Falls, Idaho, drew 325 top shooters.

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.