Mar/Apr - uspsa

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CHAMPIONSI—IIP
Story and photos by Heidi Thomas,
A-21604
Kay Clark Miculek is "Home Alone," but knows what to do.
The 1994 Limited Nationals
was a story of comebacks for
winner Rob Leatham and High
Lady Shirley Hamilton.
Leatham has won the World
Shoot three times, has seven
national titles, including the
Bianchi Cup and Steel Challenge,
and has won every major
match, except the Masters, at
least once. Coming in second
behind Jerry Barnhart at last
year's Limited Nationals,
Leatham has not garnered a
national championship for several
years. A Grand Master, he
won this year's match using a
single-stack Springfield Armory
1911 .45.
Hamilton also has several
world and national trophies on
her shelf, but this one is the
first since 1992 when she was
on the winning Chevy Chal-
lenge women's team. Placing
73rd overall with 69.07 percent,
she took the 1994 Ladies Limited
Championship shooting an
EAA Witness 40.
The Limited Nationals also
was a comeback for the kind of
shooting IPSC shooters started
out with when stock guns with
no optics or compensators were
used. "The sport has come full
circle," said Leatham. "This is
the kind of gun we started with
when I began competing in
1978. Last year I came with a
lot of equipment, and Jerry
(Barnhart) won by using his
shooting skill (with a single
stack .45)." For a long time,
Limited was fired as a separate
class at matches. "I wanted to
go for the bigger glory," he said
as he accepted his award. "But
now that it's been given national
status, it is more important
to a lot of people than
Open. At this point, it is to me,
too," he added, getting a laugh
from the audience. "It's interesting
to come back in this
form. I didn't think I was over
the hill."
Page 10 March/April 1995