Kevin Angstadt Shoots Clean and Wins the 2014 Bianchi Cup
Lewis Creek Shooting School 05.27.14
Doug Koenig has won 15 Bianchi Cups. Of those wins, beginning in 1990, he has only fired one score that wasn’t a perfect score. In the last 10 years, he’s dropped two points off a perfect score. Since 1990, when Koenig shot the first perfect score in the Bianchi Cup, only two cups have been won with scores less than perfect. A perfect score in the four-stage Bianchi Cup is an amazing accomplishment. At last week’s event, Kevin Angstadt achieved just that—and walked away with the title of Bianchi Cup Grand Champion.
This year, when Koenig went to the Mover stage, only one other shooter had a perfect score. Various problems had plagued other competitors and Angstadt was the only other shooter who’d cleaned the event. With three stages complete, Koenig had the advantage in X count with a few more Xs than Angstadt. The mover is often a make-or-break situation because it’s such a difficult match. In the Mover, the shooter has six seconds to shoot a target while it covers 60 feet. At 10 and 15 yards, the shooter fires six shots as the target moves in each direction. At 20 and 25 yards, the shooter fires two strings of three shots as the mover travels in each direction. On the last string of the 25-yard line, Koenig let one shot slip out of the eight-inch 10-ring. The first scoring ring outside the 10-ring has an eight value, meaning Koenig’s score was 1918-182x, giving him a higher X count than Angstadt’s 1920-171x, but a score just short of perfect. With that, Angstadt won his first Bianchi Cup.
While Angstadt has shot many perfect scores, this year was his first at the Bianchi. It came at the right time.
Kevin has put a fair amount of work into his first win in the Bianchi over the past 10 years, not only in developing his shooting skills but in helping others and promoting the discipline. “I first started shooting action pistol at a club in Bluefield, West Virginia,” he said. “Then we slowly got it going and started running the regional and state championships there. Now we run the big matches at Bedford, Virginia.” He ran matches for about 10 years before he managed to get others to run the events he started. About four years ago he began coming to the Bianchi and this was his first year to shoot the National Championship clean.
When Kevin learned he’d won the Championship, he was stunned and surprised. I watched the realization slowly come over his face. “I about fell over,” he said. “I was just tickled to death that I met my goal. My goal was a 1920 and this is the first time I’ve done it here. I’ve shot a 480 in all the events but never put it all together. To win it all is just icing on the cake. I’d have never thought I’d do it. It may be a few nights before I really sleep well.”
2014 Open Bianchi Cup Final Results
- 2014 Bianchi Cup Champion: Kevin Angstadt, 1920-171
- Open Class: Doug Koenig, 1918-182
- Metallic Class: Kevin Worrell, 1907-127
- High Production: Rob Leatham, 1884-132
- High Women: Jessie Duff, 1893-135
- High Junior: Louis Surgi, 1838-111
- High Senior: Kim Beckwith, 1908-143
- High Super Senior: Adam Lennert, 1897-153
- High New Shooter: Adrian Berthelsen, 1916-171
- High Lawman: Travis Hayton, 1912-164
- High International: Nigel Gordon, 1918-152
Colt Speed Event winners
- Open: Doug Koenig
- Metallic: Kevin Worrel
- Production: Rob Leatham
- Senior: Kim Beckwith
- Super Senior: Adam Lennert
- Junior: Colton Cerino
- Women: Jessie Duff
Dick Jones is an award winning outdoor writer and a member of the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association Board of Directors. He writes for four North Carolina Newspapers as well as regional and national magazines. He’s hunted and fished most of his life but shooting has been his passion. He’s a former High Master, Distinguished Rifleman, and AAA class pistol shooter. He holds four Dogs of War Medals for Team Marksmanship as shooter, captain and coach. He ran the North Carolina High Power Rifle Team for six years and the junior team two years after that. Within the last year, he’s competed in shotgun, rifle and pistol events including the National Defense Match and the Bianchi Cup. He’ll be shooting the Bianchi, the NDM, the National High Power Rifle Championship, The Rock Castle AR15.com Three Gun Championship and an undetermined sniper match this shooting season.
He lives in High Point, North Carolina with his wife Cherie who’s also an outdoor writer and the 2006 and 2011 Northeast Side by Side Women’s Shotgun Champion. Both Dick and Cherie are NRA pistol, rifle, and shotgun instructors and own Lewis Creek Shooting School.
