Jan/Feb - uspsa

ILuana NatiWE REr '174Wm!Rob Leatham heads for the door on Chase.Photo by Roger L Maierby Heidi Thomas, A-21604Rob Leatham has been preparingto win the USPSA OpenNational Championship since1989, the sixth and last time hewon it. "I've come close severaltimes, so it gave me lots of timeto speculate on things," he said.The "winningest" shooter inIPSC, Leatham finally broke along dry spell in 1994, winningthe Limited National Championship.He continued his comebackin 1995 by winning theOpen Nationals and acing thepost-match shoot-offs amongthe top 16.The 1995 Women's Championis Kay Clark-Miculek, winningher third Open championship.She is the current WorldChampion and also has won theladies' 3-Gun title an unprecedentedfour times. Secondwoman was Kippi Boykin, thirdwas Sharon Edington andfourth was Sheila Brey. Thesefour women will comprise thewomen's gold team which willbe competing in the WorldShoot in Brazil in 1996.The Open Nationals, held inReno, Nev., for the first time,drew 435 competitors from thebest shooters in the world. Robwas followed closely by DougKoenig in second, MattMcLearn in third, Todd Jarrettin fourth and Jerry Barnhart infifth, all within slightly overthree percentage points.A national match of theseproportions takes not onlypreparation on the part of theshooters, it requires at least ayear of preparation and manypeople, both staff and volun-Page 10 JanuarylFebruaty 1996