Sedro-Woolley, WA, April 8 —Max Michel and Kay Clark Miculek captured the Men’s and Women’s titles the 2008 U.S. National Steel Championships. The match, now in its second year, was held at the Skip-J Range in Anderson, South Carolina, with 90 shooters competing.
The 26-year-old Michel, who is a Staff Sergeant and captain of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit’s Action Pistol Team, topped all shooters with a total match time of 81.62 seconds beating second place finisher BJ Norris by just 0.15 seconds and third place shooter, and defending Champion, KC Eusebio by 0.36 seconds. Eusebio also serves in the U.S. Army as a member of the Marksmanship Unit.
The same three finished in identical order at the 2007 World Speed Shooting Championships setting up what many expect to will be the most hotly contested Steel Challenge when the three face-off again in August.
“The competition continues to get better and better every year. I just happened to be the guy on top this time,” said Michel. “The weather wreaked havoc on all the competitors and it was like a mental roller coaster shooting under those conditions. Although the scores were a bit lower this year, I thought everyone dealt with the weather challenges very well. I’m looking forward to the return match-up this August.”
In the women’s match, Kay Clark Miculek, the sport’s most accomplished female shooter, added the National title to her record setting six Steel Challenge titles by defeating the defending Women’s Champion, Jesse Abbate, with a time of 102.09 seconds to Abbate’s 105.37. Abbate previously topped Miculek at the 2007 World Speed Shooting Championships.
Rounding out the top five shooters were Todd Jarrett with a time of 83.01 and Dave Sevigny shooting 85.40. Among the women shooters Rebecca Jones finished third with 109.86, Kaci Cochran came in fourth with 115.82 and Margaret Reese rounded out the top five with a time of 136.83.
