The Area 4 Championship was held on 10-12 June, in Princeton, LA. The match was topped off at 244 competitors with 23 Grand Masters. Open was the biggest division with 104 competitors, but Limited was a close second with 98 competitors.

This year Area 4 ran the match a bit differently. Usually, they have you shoot all 3 days but on your last day you only shoot about 2 stages. This year, they added an extra stage to day 1 and 2 and day 3 was awards and prizes only. I was looking forward to this new system as it meant I could get on the road and start my 8 hour drive much earlier. When you think of Area 4, you think of one thing, HOT! It is always hot and very humid in Louisiana during the summer months and this year it was no different.

Travis and I were the only Army guys to make it out. The rest of our guys had some last minute stuff pop up and couldn't make it. We got to the range at about 4:00 pm on Friday. We planned it perfectly, getting to the range just as the RO's were finishing. Most people get to the range way to early and spend all day trying to look at the stages and by doing so; you are very vulnerable to the heat. From experience, TT and I planned it perfectly. We showed up and checked out all 14 stages in about 2 hours. Just in that short period of time, I was drenched in sweat. We knew we were in for a couple of long, hot days! We didn't start shooting until about 2:00 pm on Friday as we were the afternoon squad. Normally, I choose to only shoot in the morning for a couple of reasons; it's always cooler, and morning squads never finish on time. The way the match was scheduled, it forced you to pick at least 1 afternoon day. We chose Friday as we had a long drive on Thursday, so it worked out nicely for us.

After a good night's sleep (sleeping in!), we showed up on the range about 1:00 pm on Friday. Our squad formed together on stage 7 and we got underway. The entire match was very difficult and I truly feel as if it tested every skill in the IPSC game. In fact, I think this match tested our skills more than the Nationals will! I was making a joke that USPSA and Area 4 mixed up there stages. Oh well, either way, both matches will decide the best shooter! Our first stage of the match was rather difficult as there were 2 sliders, both with 2 targets and a no-shoot directly in the middle covering a good bit of the target at about 18 yards. Very tough shots, not to mention if you didn't shoot them fast enough you found yourself aiming at half of a head shot! I was the only one in the top of the open game to come off of the stage clean. Throughout the rest of the day I would have a few gun problems that set me back a bit. Nevertheless, at the end of day 1, I was ahead of Chris Tilley by about 10 points. Day 2 started off pretty tough for me giving up 20 points to Chris on the first stage. He shot amazing on the course and what can I say, I didn't. At this point, I didn't think I was only 10 points behind. I actually thought I was about 50 points behind for some reason. I remember telling Travis, ok, we have 6 more stages; I'm going to crank it up a bit and see what I can do. The next 2 stages went great and I picked up the 50 points that I thought I had loss but in reality I was now 40 points ahead. With only 4 stages left, I shot very solid to keep the pressure on Chris. At the end of the match, I won 7 of the 14 stages and won the Overall by 4%! Adam Popplewell also attended the match and shot great but scored minor at the chronograph. I felt very bad for Adam and only wished I could've given him one of my power factors. He is a great friend and I hate to see that happen to him.

Travis Tomasie shot a pretty good match with his only penalty coming on the first stage. He had some really tough competition with Todd Jarrett, Mike Voigt, Taran Butler, Blake Miguez, Emanuel Bragg, and more. When we were finished, he compared his scores to everyone except for Todd as Todd had shot the entire match in 1 day with a different squad. From the looks of it he had won. After reviewing Todd's scores, it changed everything drastically. Todd shot amazing! In fact, some of his scores were so great; it put Taran ahead of Travis in the overall! Good shooting guys and that was a fun race to watch!

Results Open:
1. Max Michel 100%
2. Chris Tilley 96.49
3. Lee Dimaculangan 87.07

Results Limited:
1. Todd Jarrett 100%
2. Taran Butler 92.85
3. Travis Tomasie 91.80

I had a great time as usual! Area 4 is my old home Area and it was really nice to see my old shooting buddies. I miss them and look forward to seeing them all again very soon. I also shot with my dad this weekend which was very nice. He shot awesome placing 3rd in Master Class! That is not bad at all at the Area 4! Great job, dad! After the match on Saturday, my family and I went to the casino. We had a nice dinner and then went to try our luck. I sat down at the poker table with $100 in chips and only played 3 hands! Oh well, I guess I better stick to shooting. One last thing before I go. The staff worked very hard at this match. All the shooters complained about the heat but at least we could run to the hotel when we were done. Those guys had to be out on the range for 14 hours or more! The stages were amazing and the RO's did a great job. I was not happy with some of the calls that were being made for other shooters but that is a part of our sport that we cannot change. It's something we have to accept and deal with it as it comes. Great job guys!

Until next time,
Max Michel, Jr.