Springfield Armory®’s Rob Leatham
Sweeps 2016 USPSA Senior Titles
Leatham Also Adds Six Overall Championships To Lifetime Total
GENESEO, IL, January 5, 2016 – (ArmsVault.com) – Springfield Armory® is proud to announce an incredibly successful inaugural “Senior” year for Team Springfield Captain Rob Leatham. Leatham marked 2016 with his 55th birthday, launching him into a new phase of his successful professional shooting career. During the past year, he not only competed in ten major events as a Senior, but won the Senior Championship
Titles in all.
During his inaugural season as an eligible Senior, Leatham claimed the title in the following major events: USPSA Area-2; USPSA Single Stack & Revolver Nationals; USPSA Production & Carry Optics Nationals; US IPSC Nationals; USPSA L10 & Limited Nationals; and the Western States Revolver & Single Stack Championships.
Not one to be limited by senior wins, Leatham also took home overall championship honors for six championship events throughout the year, adding to his impressive lifetime total of top finishes over his 37-year competitive shooting career. During 2016, Leatham claimed overall titles in the following events: Western States Revolver Championship, Western States Single Stack Championship, US IPSC Classic Nationals, USPSA Revolver Nationals, USPSA Classic Nationals Aggregate, and USPSA Area-2 Carry Optics.
“One of the things I love most about competitive shooting is that it’s a lifelong activity,” noted Rob Leatham. “I’ve been shooting competitively since the late 1970’s, and I’ll be doing it as long as I can foresee. It’s a sport of discipline and concentration, so age doesn’t matter nearly so much as it does in other sports.”
Proving the point that shooting is a sport for all ages, Leatham has been mentoring the team’s two youngest sponsored shooters, Jalise and Justine Williams, age 14 and 13 respectively. Under the direction of their coach Glen Wong and Team Captain Leatham, the pair is well on their way, although they’ve got many years of competition ahead to match Leatham’s lifetime of achievements.
Leatham’s 2016 season adds to his impressive resume of championships. He remains the first and only six-division USPSA Overall National Champion and has accumulated 28 USPSA / IPSC National Championships and eight IPSC World Championships. Counting his most recent season, he’s added 6 USPSA National Senior titles to that total, and his first US IPSC Classic Nationals trophies for both overall and senior. He has also earned all four (since it’s inception in 2013) USPSA Classic Nationals Aggregate Awards for high combined scores from the back-to-back USPSA Single Stack and Revolver National Championships.
Leatham has excelled in other competitive disciplines as well, having won eight Steel Challenge World Speed Shooting Championships. And, in what many consider the ultimate test of handgun shooting skill, Leatham has won ten NRA Bianchi Cup / Action Pistol Championships.
“I’ve been honored to compete for all these years with Team Springfield,” says Leatham. I’m thankful for the opportunity to keep representing this great company and to help their next generation of shooters as well. I plan to keep doing this for a long, long time.”
During the 2016 season, Leatham competed with a number of Springfield Armory® pistols including a 1911 SS Custom Shop .40, XD(M) 5.25” 9mm, XD(M) 4.5” 9mm OSP, 1911 Custom Shop .45 ACP Bullseye Model, and 1911 Custom Shop Hi-Cap .40 Limited gun.
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.