SSG Brandon Green Wins National High Power Championship

Brandon Green and Carl Bernosky Finish with Identical 2384-126X Scores, But Green Wins Based on 600-yard X-Count Tie-Breaker.

Story based on Reports by Kyle Jillson for NRABlog

In one of the closest finishes in NRA High Power Championship history, SSG Brandon Green of the USAMU captured the 2013 National Title, besting defending champion Carl Bernosky by tie-breaker.

“It Doesn’t Get Any Tighter…” Says SSG Green
For years, the NRA High Power national title had always been just out of reach for SSG Brandon Green. But finally, in 2013, after four tense days of shooting, Brandon Green is a National Champion. “It feels extremely good,” Green said after receiving his National title at last night’s awards ceremony. “It was a very tight match the whole way through. The weather conditions were so difficult but everybody still shot well.”

Brandon would have had enough to worry about with just the weather, but throw in a neck-and-neck race with defending champion Carl Bernosky and things get nerve-racking. Green observed: “It doesn’t get any tighter than it was today. It was too tight. Too close. I got some gray hair over it,” Green laughed.

The fourth and final day of the championships began with Green and Bernosky each at 1789 points, but Green had six more tie-breaking Xs — 98 to 92. With three matches left to shoot, the two men were presented with an opportunity to break away from one another and add an additional 600 points to their scores. As the sun sat low in the early morning sky, competitors assembled at the 200-yard line for the first match, the Crescent Cup, whose 20 shots are taken slowly from the standing position. As fate would have it, both men stumbled during the match. Bernosky and Green each dropped four points and were now tied at 1985. Green managed to push his overall X-count lead to seven, posting eight to Bernosky’s seven.

The Cavalry Cup Match came next. Here, competitors would squeeze off 20 rapid-fire shots from 300 yards while in the prone position. Green and Bernosky both bounced back from their earlier tumbles and scored perfect 200s… once again remaining tied, this time at 2185. However, here in the Cavalry Cup, Bernosky was able to close the already-small gap between himself and Green. Scoring 14 Xs to Green’s 8 Xs, the two shooters would enter the final match with Bernosky down a single X.

“After watching [Bernosky] come off the 300-yard line with a 14X, I thought I was done,” Green said. “And then, of course, I shot a nine on my very first shot for record and knew I was done at that point.”

But Green didn’t buckle. He knew it would all come down to the Crowell Trophy, a slow-fire match shot in the prone position at 600 yards. Green would go on to finish the 20-shot match with all tens, posting a 199-12X. As it turns out, Bernosky had also dropped a point, scoring a 199, and had only shot 13 Xs – bringing the two to a dead tie. Their fate almost undeniably linked at this point, both shooters dropped a single point and scored 199s, cementing their tie-by-points at 2384 each. The winner would need to be determined by the X-Count. But Green, entering the match with a one-X lead over Bernosky, ended up with 12 Xs while Bernosky totalled 13 Xs. So the two men ended the final match tied with the exact same scores and same X-counts. Amazing.

After the final shot at the final yardage in the final match, both Green and Bernosky were tied with identical scores of 2384-126X. What now?

In order to break the tie, the two scores would be compared by how well each man shot from the 600-yard line. If the tie persisted, the comparison would move to scores from the 300-yard line. From there the 200-yard rapid fire scores would be compared, followed by the 200-yard slow-fire scores. If the men were still equally matched, the tie-breaker would eventually count the point values of the individual hits — starting back at 600 yards — until a winner was determined.

Accounting for all shots taken at 600 yards, both men had scored 597 points, however Green had 35 Xs and Bernosky had 34 Xs. That sealed it — SSG Brandon Green won the 2013 National High Power Champsionship by having one more X at 600 yards than Carl. This was the slimmest margin of victory seen in a long time, but Green is officially the 2013 NRA National High Power Rifle Champion — his first NRA High Power title after years of finishing so close. SSG Green was crowned the 2013 champion at Friday night’s award ceremony (photo above right).