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Chris Tilley of Raleigh, North Carolina held off defending champ Max Michel by more than 24 points to take 2008 Open National Championship, capping off a week of competition in Tulsa, Oklahoma at the U.S. Practical Shooting Association’s National Handgun Championships.
Earlier in the week, Rebecca Jones of Hopewell, Virginia captured the Women’s Open title.
“I’m actually really surprised. I didn’t shoot near as well as I thought I was capable of and I ended up on top. It was absolutely amazing,” said Jones.
Coming in second among the women was Megan Francisco of Gainesville, Virginia, followed by third-place finisher Doni Spencer of Campbellville, Ontario.
Tilley’s 1723.8475 (100.00%) Men’s Open score beat Michel’s 1699.3769 (98.58%) and Todd Jarrett’s 1679.6643 (97.44%) tally.
Earlier in the week, Team Glock members, Jessie Abbate of McDonough, Georgia, and Randi Rogers of Durango, Colorado, won the Women’s Limited and Production National Championships, respectively.
Shooting a Glock 34, Abbate, who won the Production Division title in 2007, dominated the women’s Limited Division field by winning 15 of the 19 stages and outscoring her nearest competitor, Nancy Huspek of St. Paul, Minnesota, by more than 144 points.
Abbate finished the match with a winning score of 1245.3171 points. Huspek took second with 1100.9001 points. Renee Tyson of Haughton, Louisiana, placed third with 1099.0272.
In the Production Division, Rogers shot a Glock 34 to take the title by more over 176 points with an overall score of 1184.9574 points. She outpaced the second place shooter, Dianna Liedorff of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Debbie Keehart of Mesa, Arizona.
Abbate picked up another national title for Glock with her victory in the Women’s Limited-10 Division.
“Going into the second match I was a little tired, a little worn out. I
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made a few mistakes and had my Glock teammate Randi Rogers right behind me. This was the first time we went head-to-head and she had me nervous on a couple stages but luckily I came out on top. I’m happy to be able to take back-to-back titles this year,” said Abbate, who lives in McDonough, Georgia.
Abbate’s score of 1226.7658 placed her 45th overall in a field of more than 150 of the top shooters in the world, followed by Rogers of Durango, Colorado with a score of 1149.2027, and Carina Randolph of Richardson, Texas.
Travis Tomasie, a sergeant with the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia, won his first national pistol title in the Limited Division. Tomasie won by more than 31 points with Para USA’s Jarrett in second, who surged on the last stage to move ahead of STI’s Ted Puente of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Robert Vogel won the Production Division at the U.S. Shooting Academy.
“I’ve devoted the last seven years of my life working toward this moment,” said Vogel, who has been shooting competitively since the age of 19.
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Defending national champion Dave Sevigny of Mableton, Georgia, was second, and Benjamin Stoeger of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, was third.
Sevigny, captain of Team Glock, rallied from that second-place finish in the Production National Championship to grab the Limited-10 title—his eighth Practical Shooting national title.
“Every year the competition just keeps getting tougher. Anytime you can win a national championship it’s rewarding,” said Sevigny.
Sevigny competed in the match using a standard model Glock 35 pistol.
Sevigny posted a final score of 1695.4896, more than 34 points over Puente’s second place run of 1660.6253. Shannon Smith finished third with 1659.3958 points.
James McGinty of Tabernacle, New Jersey, captured the Open and Limited Division Junior titles. “When I shot this match before I’d shoot way to fast and not hit anything. This time I slowed myself down and got my shots,” said McGinty, a 17-year-old high school senior at the Burlington County Institute of Technology.
McGinty, who shoots an STI-built by Millennium Custom, is now ranked number one in the nation among junior pistol shooters. He is expected to compete in the International Practical Shooting Confederation’s World Shoot XV later this year in Bali, Indonesia.
