Springfield Armory® is pleased to announce another big finish at one of USPSA’s most prestigious championships by Team Springfield™’s junior competitors. The weekend of March 3 through 5, 2017 marked the 30th anniversary of one of Practical Shooting’s oldest championship matches, the Rio Salado Desert Classic, held in Mesa, Arizona. The weekend also brought a clean sweep of the USPSA Area 2 Championship by the youngest members of Team Springfield, Justine and Jalise Williams.
The two junior members of Team Springfield™ claimed Top Lady honors in the Production and Single-stack Divisions. Justine Williams not only earned the Top Lady award for Production Division, but she also took second Junior, third in A-Class, and 10th place overall. Sister Jalise chose to compete in the Single-stack division where she won Top Lady, first place in the Junior category, second place for B-Class, and 11th place overall.
The Williams sisters had this to say about the Rio Salado Classic. “We love going to Rio Salado to shoot. It is starting to feel like our home away from home. The officials and competitors at the range are always very friendly, the match runs smoothly and they always have great stages.” Justine adds, “There are many great competitors who attend this match that I look up to and are great role models. I am really happy with my performance and hope I can continue to grow and improve.”
For 30 years, the Rio Salado Desert Classic has earned and maintained a reputation for challenging stage design and use of innovative props. Offering the richest prize table in USPSA, it’s no surprise that registration fills in minutes year after year. The 2017 USPSA Area 2 Championship drew 435 total competitors who faced 15 unique and exceptionally challenging courses of fire. The total of all 15 stages required 351 shots on target for each competitor.
That high round count offers perspective on just how accomplished Team Springfield™’s newest shooters have become. Throughout the entire event, Justine Williams experienced just a single penalty miss while Jalise had 3 total penalties. Overall, Justine and Jalise put 80% and 78.9% of shots into the target A-zones respectively. At ages 12 and 14, these sisters continue to demonstrate their increasing skills of both speed and accuracy.
“Their commitment to safety and relentless self-improvement is really an inspiration,” observed Team Springfield™ Captain Rob Leatham. “These girls have shown real dedication to the sport. They’re the future, and we’re proud that they continue to represent Springfield Armory®.”
The Production Division of the Area 2 Championship featured a total of 77 competitors. Justine, shooting her Springfield Armory® XD(M) 5.25 Competition Model pistol, achieved an aggregate score of 1,379.3795 match points. Jalise Williams, using her Springfield Armory® 1911 A-1 Professional 9mm, scored 1,228.7609 match points shooting in the Single-stack Division against 55 other competitors. Even using different handguns, the sisters remained neck and neck regarding stage times, with an average difference of just 1.9 seconds per stage between the two.
Jalise Williams is already planning for the next big event. “It was an honor to be able to represent Springfield Armory at this legacy event. Shooting this match gave me a good perspective on what I need to work on for the USPSA Area 1 Championship.”
Next up for Team Springfield™ is the USPSA Area 1 Championship on March 31st followed by the USPSA Multi-gun Nationals on April 14th.
About Springfield Armory®
“The First Name in American Firearms,” Springfield Armory® was founded in 1777, when George Washington ordered the creation of an armory to store ammunition and gun carriages during the American Revolution. In 1794, the armory began to manufacture muskets and spent the next 150 years supplying firearms for every major American conflict. The original armory closed in 1968. In 1974, the Reese family took ownership of the Springfield Armory® name and began making the M1A™ rifle. Today, Springfield Armory® develops many products loyal to the company’s heritage, like the 1911 pistol, while ensuring its future with innovative products, including the XD®, XD® Mod.2®, XD(M)® and XD-S® polymer pistols and now the new SAINT™ AR-15 rifle.
