Southwest Nationals 2026 Final Report — Great Event This Year
The 2026 Southwest Nationals (SWN) have concluded. Held at the impressive Ben Avery range in Arizona, the 2026 SWN was a very successful event with good conditions (for the most part) and impressive scores by shooters in all three divisions: Sling, F-Open, and F-TR. We congratulate the new SWN Grand Agg Champions: Bobby Gill (Sling), Ryan Mitchell (F-Open), and Brad Sauve (F-TR). This was familiar territory for Sauve who has won the SWN F-TR title before.
The SWN has both individual and team competition in all three classes. The winning team in the Sling Division was Team USAMU 2564-124X (Capt.: Jarrod McGaffic / Coach: Verne Conant). The top F-Open team was LOS CHINGONES 2590-153X (Capt.: Dennis Ray / Coach: Brian Bowling). The F-TR team competition was dominated by Team USA F-TR VORTEX 2575-123X (Capt.: Ian Klemm / Coach: Keith Trapp).
The 2026 SWN had very high participation in all classes. Observers said that 2026 may have rivaled the highest total turn-out in many years. Weather-wise, we’re told that conditions were “very manageable” for most of the week until the final day of individual competition. Wind angles and velocities became quite hard to diagnose on that last day. As a result many top shooters dropped multiple points in the last individual relay and this created major shake-ups in the leaderboard, with some very skilled shooters dropping out of the Top 20 after an otherwise impressive week.
A special congrats to our friend Gary Eliseo who actually ended up with the highest Sling Division overall score, 1240-64X. But because he used a scope throughout the match he could not win the Sling Grand Aggregate.* Gary Eliseo reported: “I had a great time at SWN 2026. It was a privilege to catch up with so many friends from around the country, managed to shoot a PB too! My UMRS/6.5 El-Mo did everything it could to make me look good.”
» CLICK HERE for ALL 2026 Southwest Nationals Results
SLING (All Classes) Grand Aggregate Top 10
1. Bobby Gill, 1239-57X, Match Winner
2. Justin Skaret, 1238-65X
3. Phil Hayes, 1237-56X
4. Brandon Green, 1232-63X
5. Nate Guernsey, 1231-67X
6. Oliver Milanovic, 1231-63X
7. Justin Utley, 1223-67X
8. Mike Kelly, 1223-52X
9. Kimberly Rowe, 1223-49X
10. Fazal Mohideen, 1223-47X
Top Score: Gary Eliseo, 1240-64X (Scoped Rifle)
CLICK HERE for Full SWN Sling Division Grand Aggregate Results
SLING TEAM Top 3
Team 44 USAMU HM 2564-124X
Team 49 USNMT VFB MRNAK HM 2564-115X
Team 46 USNRT GILL HM 2562-122X
F-OPEN Grand Aggregate Top 10
1. Ryan Mitchell, 1245-83X, Match Winner
2. Joe Traylor, 1245-74X
3. Tim Vaught, 1245-69X
4. Jason Simes, 1243-73X
5. Gwen Basalla, 1243-66X
6. Brad Johnson, 1242-78X
7. Pat Scully, 1242-74X
8. Erik Cortina, 1242-71X
9. Emil Kovan, 1242-64X
10. Brian Bowling 1241-78X
CLICK HERE for Full SWN F-Open Division Grand Aggregate Results
F-OPEN TEAM Top 3
Team 70 LOS CHINGONES HM 2590-153X
Team 79 VIHTAVIORI HM 2588-142X
Team 63 BULLET CENTRAL HM 2586-146X
F-TR Grand Aggregate Top 10
1. Brad Sauve, 1241-74X, Match Winner
2. Tracy Hogg, 1241-64X
3. Tom Hubbard, 1237-65X
4. Scott Kyle, 1237-59X
5. Keith Trapp, 1237-55X
6. Allen Tampke, 1236-49X
7. Alan Barhart, 1235-65X
8. James Crofts, 1234-59X
9. Oleg Savelyev, 1233-59X
10. Benoit Vautour, 1233-58X
CLICK HERE for Full SWN F-TR Division Grand Aggregate Results
F-TR TEAM Top 3
Team 23 USA F-TR VORTEX HM 2575-123X
Team 21 USA F-TR BERGER HM 2568-118X
Team 13 CREEDMOOR SPORTS GOLD MA 2556-111X
| Report from F-Open Competitor John Masek (F-Class John) | |
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This year’s Southwest Nationals appeared to have the highest attendance I’ve ever seen. The Mid-Range match on Wednesday isn’t usually all that full but this year every firing position was used which is something I’ve never seen before in Mid-Range. Long range was also sold out which I believe is around 365 shooters with the majority being in the F-Open category. I don’t know the exact count, but there were nearly three full pages of F-Open shooters listed — that means there could’ve been close to 200 F-Open shooters. Overall there was beautiful weather with mostly gorgeous conditions during the week, and it was great seeing everyone from across the country and even the world. Conditions were manageable for a lot of the shooters throughout the week with some of the highest scores I’ve ever seen — 16 F-Open shooters all shot a perfect 450 points on the Palma day Friday. Saturday got just a little trickier, but still many of the top shooters were managing to only have dropped a couple points over the two days. Sunday started with mild conditions again, but the final relay on Sunday afternoon completely shook the leaderboard up. While there were certainly top shooters who were able to hold their positions… but just as many dropped quite a few places down. It was one of the trickiest conditions I’ve ever seen that didn’t involve giant winds. |
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* Scopes help older sling rifle shooters whose eyes are starting to wear out. But, Gary Eliseo explains: “In this event, the match director dictates that a Palma rifle be used on the first day, and if you want to shoot an ‘any rifle’ on Day Two it also must have iron sights with the third day being ‘any sights’ so ‘F-sling’ is a category where ‘any sights’ are allowed to be used on all three days but that makes us ineligible to win the Grand Aggregate.”
