The annual Santa Margarita Gun Club NRA Midrange Region Match was a huge success. Thank you to all competitors and staff for making it so! We are especially thankful to those who helped out to make it all happen. The club would like to recognize the following people for their extensive efforts!
- Harry Harrison MGySgt, Wife Cindy, and son Zach for their tireless efforts to make this and every other event the best it can be
- Ken Letwin as statistician and for providing assistance to Harry in running this big event
- Marc Mitry and Dave Ellis for coming out on Friday to set up for the match
- Dr John Childs for making the long journey down to the match to provide us with Medical staffing
- Paul Guy and Mike Nies for providing Medical staffing for the event
- RSOs Mike Jones, Walter Lange, David Ellis, and Simon Wagner
Below are the various match winners listed by award as presented by Harry Harrison MGySgt our Match Director
Match Winner – Oliver Milanovic
2nd Place Overall – Mike Kelley
3rd Place Overall & first Place F-Class – Allen Thomas
High Match / Palma – James Cobb
High Senior – Doug Frerichs
First Place High Master Class – Marc Mitry
High F T/R – Lee Davis, MCPO
High Service Rifle – Ken Letwin
High F-Open – Mike Jones
First Place Marksman Class – David Ellis
First Place Sharpshooter Class – Jeff Lovat
First Place Expert Class – Janusz Dabrowski
First Place Master Class – Michael Nies
In addition to the overall placement awards we also recognized individual match winners of each individual match over the two day event. As you might expect, overall winners tend to sweep these awards as well, but Ken Letwin did manage to best Oliver Milaonvic by a single point for his Division Trophy!
1st Marine Aircraft Wing Trophy – Oliver Milanovic
1st Marine Division Match Winner – Oliver Milanovic
2nd Marine Aircraft Wing Trophy – Oliver Milanovic
2nd Marine Division Match Trophy – Ken Letwin
3rd Marine Aircraft Wing Trophy – Oliver Milanovic
Saturday afternoon was host to a team match after the three individual matches had been completed. The late afternoon match was tricky with the wind in full effect. This put the match outcome equally on the shoulders of both the shooter and the coach. Thanks to all who stayed to compete after a long day in the sun. It was a good race with only 15 points separating the top three teams. In the end our Match Rifle team from Arizona took the Medal – well done guys!
Team Match Winners – The Desert Sharpshooters
The Three Overall Match Winners on ‘The Podium’: Allen Thomas – Bronze, Oliver Milanovic – Gold, and Mike Kelley – Silver
Here are some additional photos from the event
Our shooting venue, Wilcox Range 103
Harry Harrison and Ken Letwin hard at work checking us all in
We deployed the clubs new shelters for the first time and struggled with some environmental challenges on the first day. We had one of three standing on Saturday afternoon
The lucky shaded few!
F-Class shooters are welcome to shoot in any Mid-Range match and have an opportunity to compete against other F-Class competitors for awards over the two day event
The turn out for F-Class at the regional was solid with 18 shooters across the two disciplines of F T/R and F-Open
The Team match at the end of the day put both shooters and coaches to the test. We had five teams competing of which three were composed of F-class shooters. As seen above, the Desert Sharpshooters Match Rifle team dominated beating the second place team by 11 points.
At the conclusion of the Saturday shooting events the Club put the talented Duane Fitzgerald in charge of a delicious championship meal. Duane cooks likes he shoots, exceptionally!
We had ribs, beans, and slaw that were top notch
On our way home we saw that a fire was in progress at the Northern end of the base. This continued into the next day with heavy radio traffic on the base radio dedicated to managing it.
On Sunday morning we took valuable lessons learned the day before to construct the line shelter with some reinforcement
Canting the shelters forward allowed us to maintain shade on the line throughout the day
Dave Ellis came to the rescue with a fish tape to fix a ‘wounded’ cover from the previous days mayhem. Talk about being prepared!
Gary and his neighbor Joe deep in strategic discussion. Joe is not a firing participant in the match, but comes to help Gary and anyone else he can. Joe goes out of his way to haul gear or set up the range. His above and beyond participation in the club is very much appreciated!
Some photos from the line on day two
The crew from Arizona
Oliver Milanovic and his analog stopwatch marking time and X-ring hits
Unpacking the coveted awards for the match
The awards ceremony back at ‘The Thunderdome’
Eagerly awaiting the final results
Harry and his Wife Cindy prep the awards for the ceremony
The team who brought you this event – Harry Harrison MGySgt, Ken Letwin, and Dave Ellis.
