The 2004 GA State Championship took place on July 9th and 10th in Gainesville, GA. Carlos Rubio was the match director and did a fantastic job with the rest of the staff. There were a total of 241 shooters at this year's competition, which is one of the biggest ever I know of. I had to look twice to make sure I was at GA State as there were over 15 GM's in various divisions! There were not just any GM, but some of the best in the world in every division, including Travis Tomasie, Dave Sevigny, Phil Strader, Chris Tilley, Mike Seeklander, Emanuel Bragg and more. This was a great showing for a state match!

The match was now made up of 9 GREAT stages with nearly 250 rounds. Carlos and the guys out there got very creative with the courses. The targets were close for the most part but extremely tough. I love hard shots and am always up for the challenge. We even had a couple of international type stages as we were forced to back up, run up and down stair cases, shoot handcuffed and overall a lot of freestyle type shooting. We need to see more of that in the States or our boys will have more trouble at the World Shoot trying to adjust to their style of shooting. Thanks for the great stages guys!

Chris Tilley and I talked about being squadded together for this match a few weeks prior and Carlos was the man to make it happen. Chris and I like to squad together to put pressure on each other for better practice. He is an awesome competitor and one to look at for many of years to come. On the morning of the match Chris wasn't acting like himself at all. I was thinking to myself, why is he so quiet, maybe he was focusing or nervous. So I tried to make small talk with him but he wasn't really into it so I left it alone. Later I found out that someone had just recently broken into his gun shop. That's pretty tough to handle. But once again Chris would put up a strong score. We went back and forth winning stages. In the end I won 4 stages and secured another victory! This means that I have put another 100% into my point series total! Maybe this year I can take the overall, but only time will tell.

Georgia State Championship Results:

1. Max Michel 100%
2. Chris Tilley 96%
3. David Christen 88%

This was a great match! I had a very fun time as I spent all day Friday coaching my gunsmith through the match and he did very well. Well, except the time he forgot to shoot a popper but who remembers that stuff. LOL, good shooting Joe! We truly appreciate all of the RO's great work at the match! It was very hot but they continued to assist the shooters with a smile.

Until next time,
Max Michel, Jr.