April 22, 2008

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Dave Thomas
(360) 855-2245

Sedro-Woolley, WA — Max Michel of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) captured his fifth consecutive Open pistol title at the United States Practical Shooting Association's (USPSA) Area 6 Regional Championships. The win represents his third major title in as many months.

Michel, a Staff Sergeant with the famed Army Marksmanship Unit and a Meraux native, dominated the 12 stage match taking first place on six stages and second on three others as he outpaced fellow USAMU member K.C. Eusebio and Chris Tilley who finished second and third respectively. Clint Upchurch and Derek Janowicz rounded out the top five Open Division shooters.

Earlier this year Michel took the Open title at the USPSA Florida Open match and won the U.S. National Steel Championship. Both are major matches on the pistol shooting circuit.

"The Area 6 Championship is one of my favorite matches because the staff puts on a national level event. The competition this year was stiff and I had to battle two great shooters, Chris Tilley who is a former National Champion and my own USAMU teammate KC Eusebio. They are both tremendous competitors and coming out on top wasn't easy," said Michel.

The USPSA Area 6 Championships were held at the South River Gun Club in Covington, Georgia. A total of 335 top shooters competed in USPSA's Open, Limited, Limited-10, Production, Revolver and Single Stack divisions.

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About USPSA: The United States Practical Shooting Association is a non-profit membership association affiliated with the International Practical Shooting Confederation (I.P.S.C.), which is comprised of approximately 67 nations. USPSA's now 16,500+ members and 350 affiliated clubs make it the largest and fastest growing Practical Shooting sport. For more information visit USPSA.org.