Kaci Cochran Bests Lee for Women’s Open Title in Florida
SEDRO-WOOLLEY, Wash. –-(Ammoland.com)- With names like Abbate, Lee and Miculek in the competition, the Women’s Open title at the USPSA Florida Open was sure to go to one of these ‘usual suspects’ until Kaci Cochran shot her way to the top…and the title.
Cochran, a resident of Stockbridge, Ga. who was the runner-up for the last three years, won four of the 10 stages and held the lead through nearly the entire match to take the women’s title with a final score of 1161.4128. No small feat considering the nearly countless world and national titles held by three of her competitors.
One of those experienced champions, Athena Lee of Katy, Texas, was the only other shooter to lead, finishing atop the field after the first stage.
Lee dropped out of first when Cochran won the second stage, and despite winning two more stages and stalking Cochran for of most the match, she finished in second place with a score of 1134.7005.
Finishing third was the defending champion Tammie Bordwell of Orlando, Fla. Bordwell, who also won the Limited title in 2009, took top honors on the fourth stage and flirted with second place twice in the match before ending up third with her final score of 1124.2015.
Rounding out the top five were two of the most experienced shooters within the sport. Team Smith & Wesson’s Kay Miculek of Princeton, La. placed fourth posting a final score of 1084.4052.
Team Leupold’s Jesse Abbate of McDonough, Ga., a woman who has won five USPSA national handgun titles in the last three years, found herself in the uncharacteristic position of finishing fifth. Despite taking top honors on two stages Abbate ended the match with a final score of 1073.6013.
“Kaci faced off against some of the strongest competitors in the Open division. She shot a strong consistent match that allowed her to fend off Athena, Kay, Jessie and last year’s top gun, Tammie, for the win,” said Michael Voigt, president of the U.S. Practical Shooting Association.
Elsewhere in Open division competition, Team Sig Sauer’s Max Michel of Covington, La. won the overall Open title for the fourth year in a row with his final score of 1517.4876. Sherwyn Greenfield of Spirit Lake, Iowa claimed the Senior Open title with 1143.5772, while Robert Keller of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. won the Super Senior Open match with a score of 1106.4356.
The USPSA Florida Open Handgun Championship was held this past weekend at the Universal Shooting Academy in Frostproof, Fla. and drew more than 365 top competition shooters, including competitors from Brazil, Canada, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, Norway, Russia, Serbia, the Slovak Republic and Spain.
The next major match on the USPSA calendar is the 2011 Area 6 Regional Pistol Championship which will be held April 15-17 at the Universal Shooting Academy.
For more information on upcoming matches, or to become a member, visit www.USPSA.org. To join in on the conversation with other competition shooters follow @USPSA_Shooting on Twitter or find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/USPracticalShootingAssn.
About:
USPSA is a non-profit membership association. Most of the more than 15,000 individual members belong to and regularly compete at one of the nearly 400 affiliated clubs and sections (groups of clubs banded together for mutual benefit) located across the United States. USPSA is affiliated with the International Practical Shooting Confederation (I.P.S.C.), which is comprised of approximately 67 nations. USPSA is the American region of IPSC. Visit: www.uspsa.org