The 2004 USPSA Handgun National Championship took place on September 13th-18th in Barry, IL. There were a total of 497 shooters registered, with the Open divisions making up nearly 50% of the competition. I always love shooting at Pasa Park and couldn't wait to get this match started. I had a great year and felt I was ready to end it on a positive note. The Open division had your normal Open GM's such as JJ Racaza, Chris Tilley, JoJo Vidanes, Adam Popplewell, Matt Burkett and more. The biggest addition to the competition was 2-time World Champion, Eric Grauffel. He is by far the best shooter competing in today's IPSC/USPSA competitions and I was very excited to get a chance to go one on one! Not only did all the best come out to claim the National Champion title, but this match would also decide the Point Series National Champion, as well as the 2005 World Shoot team. We all knew it was going to be a very exciting week!

I and the rest of the Army team flew in 2 days early and decided to stay at the Ice House Inn in Barry. The hotel was literally 2 miles from the range, if that. We got to the hotel and really wasn't sure about it. It seemed pretty freaky and I think we all wanted our mamma's the first night. After that we got used to it and loved being 2 minutes from the range. If you are planning to stay there in the future, you may want to call in advance. There are not very many rooms and I'm pretty sure they book up fast for the Nationals. One other side note. I was there for a total of 9 days and my bed was made twice. Notice I only talked about the bed. The room was never actually cleaned and I had to get my own towels out of the dryer every night. Not much for room service but it beats a 30 minute drive to the range every morning. This is just something for you to think about in the future.

The day before the match we went to the range to confirm our zero. Whenever possible I'll always check my zero because you never know what can happen during the course of a flight. The bag handlers aren't very gentle with your luggage either. After confirmation we registered and that is where we received our golf carts! That's right, Pasa Park allowed us to have golf carts this year. That made a huge difference going up and down the hills. I hope to see that back next year. By going early like we did it also allowed us time to look over the stages. 24 stages was a lot to look at in one day! We did it but I'm not quite sure if I remembered half of them after dinner. At least we were able to see if there was anything tricky that we needed to look out for. The stages seemed pretty straight up but had some really fast activators. I felt that I had enough info from the stages and couldn't do anything else until the next morning.

Finally, day 1 had arrived but we didn't start until 1:30. The squad began to form on stage 20 and we were now underway! I was first on the stage and shot great. I was pumped! Throughout the day I shot consistently and we all remained pretty close. The second day is where a bunch of guys starting making mistakes but Eric and I kept going strong, with only 5 points between us. On Wednesday the competition would fall back a little more as Eric and I were within 10 points, with the rest of the guys 50 points behind us. You can kind of see a trend here. Throughout the week Eric shot great and I tried to hang on as best I could. On day 4 I made 2 mistakes that would hurt bad and from which I would never really be able to recover. Eric made a few mistakes as well but nothing big enough that I was able to capitalize on. On the last day Eric had a pretty demanding lead on me (40 points). Usually after 20 stages he would be 100 points ahead in most cases so at least I was able to put a little heat on him throughout the week. When I got to the range on Friday I had to decide what I was going to do. I had JJ and Chris about 50-60 points behind me for the US National title and about 40 points separated me from Eric. I could push it and try to catch Eric and possibly blow the national title or shoot consistently and finish as the US National Champion. I figured shooting against a 2-time World Champ with a 40 point lead the odds were really against me. I shot pretty well but Eric did exactly what he needed to do. He shot a great match and I loved competing against him! He would finish highest overall and I would be second but was able to capture the US National Champion title for the first time in my career!

The results are as follows:

Open Results:
1. Eric Grauffel 100%
2. Max Michel 97.40% (US National Champion)
3. Chris Tilley 94.70%
4. JJ Racaza 94.28%
5. Adam Popplewell 89.82%

As many of you know the US Nationals has a tradition of a top 16 man-on-man shoot-off. I thought, ok, here is my chance to get Eric back in front of everyone. The only problem was that we were #1 and #2, which meant we would be in two different brackets and would only meet unless both of us made it to the finals. Eric shot first and was put out immediately by Ron Francisco. I have to say I was very happy for Ron but I was supposed to do that! Anyway, I made it to the finals and was squared up against one of my great friends, JJ Racaza. JJ beat me on the first run and I was faced with elimination for the first time. I shot hard for the next 2 strings and won the Open Nationals Shoot-Off! That was also the first time I have won that title as I was second a few times in years past.

To further top the week off I clinched the Point Series National Championship title as well as the 2005 World Shoot Team Captain! It was a very successful week for me and I learned a lot of what I need to do to get right before facing Eric again at the World Shoot in Ecuador. I would like to thank all those who were there to support me, such as my family and my fianceé Jen. My NCOIC, SFC Hampton, made the trip which was nice. You don't see very many people in charge coming to our matches. In fact, he is the first. Thanks SFC Hampton for your support as well as the rest of the Army team.

The staff did an amazing job as usual. They worked very hard not just all week but during set up and tear down as well. Be sure to thank them when you get the chance. Great job guys!

Well, this is it for me for the rest of the year. I miss shooting already but I have a few Army obligations that I have to attend to. I will be back and ready at the Florida Open in February. of 2005. Hope to see everyone there!

Until next time,
Max Michel, Jr.