FINDING QUICK HANDS OF STEEL WORLD COMPETITION ROUNDS UP HIGH-CALIBER SHOOTERS.Byline: Kirby Lee Special to the Daily News Melissa McConnell Melissa Marie McConnell (born 1978) is a beauty queen who has held the title Miss Louisiana USA and has competed at Miss USA. McConnell, who hails from Ruston, Louisiana, is an experience pageant contestant. trained for years to earn her recent promotion from the USA developmental shooting team to the national team in air and sport pistol. The Olympic hopeful, though, will enter a new realm in the Steel Challenge speed shooting tournament that runs through Sunday. McConnell of Atlanta will be among nearly 250 competitors at the Steel Challenge Ranges in Piru that will serve as the world speed shooting championships. Though Olympic-style shooting emphasizes accuracy over time, speed shooting involves both. McConnell, 38, along with Cody Maxwell, John Bickar and Jason Turner Jason Turner refers to:
``I am thrilled, and it's an honor even though we are like the newcomers,'' McConnell said with a Southern drawl drawl v. drawled, drawl·ing, drawls v.intr. To speak with lengthened or drawn-out vowels. v.tr. . ``It's like everything that we learned in Olympic-style shooting but just at a faster pace. Being here can let everyone know that shooters are shooters and come try it all because you can master it if you try.'' The Steel Challenge format requires competitors to be timed on seven stages of fire, each with a different array of five steel targets that are timed electronically to a hundredth of a second. The competitor's score is a combined time of all the stages. An average of the four of the five times per stage is taken with the worst thrown out. Shooters are timed at the sound of a horn and fire at targets from 7 to 35 yards away. Hands must be in a surrender position with wrists and full hands visible from behind before the horn is fired. Contestants must hit a contact-activated plate to complete the round. Hitting the stop plate before the other targets will result in a three-second penalty, a costly mistake where the record is 1.87 seconds for the easiest of the seven stages. The standardized standardized pertaining to data that have been submitted to standardization procedures. standardized morbidity rate see morbidity rate. standardized mortality rate see mortality rate. stages - Roundabout, Showdown, Five to Go, Flying M 2000, Speed Option, Outer Limits and Smoke and Hope - are each configured con·fig·ure tr.v. con·fig·ured, con·fig·ur·ing, con·fig·ures To design, arrange, set up, or shape with a view to specific applications or uses: to offer different challenges from plate distance and configuration. ``The (national team shooters) are accustomed to more exacting accuracy and generous time limits,'' Steel Challenge co-event director Mike Dalton Dalton, city (1990 pop. 21,761), seat of Whitfield co., extreme NW Ga., in the Appalachian valley; inc. 1847. It is a highly industrialized city in a farm area. said. ``Here, the time factor is really up to the competitor to be as fast as you can do the job. It's the ultimate test of speed and accuracy.'' Dalton, a San Fernando San Fernando, city, Argentina San Fernando (săn fərnăn`dō), city (1991 pop. 144,761), Buenos Aires prov., E Argentina. It is a district administrative center in the Greater Buenos Aires area. Police Department patrol officer and gun instructor from Mission Hills, started the Steel Challenge with Acton resident Mike Fichman, a vice president with a private security firm. In 1981, Dalton and Fichman, acquaintances from rapid-fire events, envisioned creating a spectator-friendly event. Part of the novelty for spectators without any background in shooting is the clang of bullets and chipped paint off the steel targets and the immediate readout (1) A small display device that typically shows only a few digits or a couple of lines of data. (2) Any display screen or panel. on a digital clock. Most speed shooting competitions use paper targets. The first Steel Challenge had 80 entrants and $20,000 in cash and prizes. This year's event will feature more than $265,000 in awards with the entries capped at the maximum level of competitors the ranges will accommodate. More than 65,000 rounds of ammunition will be fired. The categories include rimfire, centerfire, shotguns, revolvers and single action. There are also divisions for law enforcement, junior, preteen pre·teen adj. 1. Relating to or designed for children especially between the ages of 10 and 12. 2. Being a child especially between the ages of 10 and 12; preadolescent. n. A preteen boy or girl. and women. Spectators also will have an opportunity to win a pistol or a shotgun shotgun: see small arms. shotgun Smoothbore shoulder firearm designed to fire a number of pellets, or shot, that cover a large target area after they leave the muzzle. It is used mainly against small game such as birds. in a ``fun-shooting competition.'' Guns and ammunition will be provided. Dalton and Fichman have competed in the Steel Challenge in past years. Dalton won last year's stock pistol division. Both have taken this year off to focus on putting on the event that will be filmed by the Outdoor Channel. Individual competition will be through Saturday. Sunday's finale will feature the Team vs. Team Shootout Shootout Venture capital jargon. Refers to two or more venture capital firms fighting for the startup. , where the top 32 finishers will be divided into teams of four in a single-elimination event. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Melissa McConnell of Atlanta will be among four members of the USA national team in this weekend's Steel Challenge. Kirby Lee/Special to the Daily News |
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