I haven’t had the chance to shoot the High Desert Championship since 2021 when I was still shooting Tac. In 2022 I was going to shoot it in open, but I slipped a disc in my back the night before the match started, which was the end of my season. The next two years I was on the greatest roadtrip of my life, so that’s alright.
But this year I made it back, and it was as big as ever. After more than 23 minutes of shooting time over three days, I finished in 2nd place just behind Tim Ramberg. I had a bunch of issues, but everyone did. This is not the kind of match where you lay down perfection and every fraction of a second matters. This is the kind of match where you hope that whatever thing happens to you on the stage (because there will be something) won’t be catastrophic.
The weather was great, the squad was great, and I shot so much ammo that I’m pretty sure the van was riding higher on the ride home. There was some shenanigans that I hope will be rectified next year, but it felt great to get back to a range where I have a lot of great memories. And it’s nice to know that I don’t have to get on a plane for every major on the calendar.
