Kaitlin Benthin Wins Area 8 Steel Challenge Championship
Congratulations to Team SK member, Kaitlin Benthin on winning the Ladies Championship title for the third consecutive year at the 2023 EGW Area 8 Steel Challenge Championship. With her overall grand aggregate score of 76.07 and 20 personal best times, Kaitlin won the Junior and Rimfire Rifle Iron category titles. She finished 20th overall out of 233 competitors.
Kaitlin’s results for each title were as follows:
- Ladies Champion in:
- Rimfire Rifle Open
- Rimfire Rifle Iron
- Pistol Caliber Carbine Open
Junior Champion in:
- Rimfire Rifle Open
- Rimfire Rifle Iron
- Pistol Caliber Carbine Open
- Rimfire Pistol Open
Kaitlin’s victories didn’t come easy as one week before the championship, her 10/22 rifles started having major feeding issues. Upon inspection, her receivers were worn out and irreparable. Two new receivers and barrels arrived four days prior to the match.
Kaitlin’s coach and father, David Benthin, commented, “I assembled the Rifles and the new Taccom ULW barrels and receivers were a perfect match for the Tandemkross internals, Striplin Custom Gunworks sights and SK Ammunition, which ran together perfectly! Kaitlin was not only able to defend her Ladies title but win it again for the 3rd year in a row! All with unproven rifles. There is no substitute for quality parts and especially quality ammunition.”
The 2023 EGW Area 8 Steel Challenge Championship was held at the Lawrence Country Sportsmen’s Association in Wampum, PA on July 21-24th. In a Steel Challenge match, competitors shoot eight courses of fire, each having five steel targets as small as a 10” round plate, and up to a 18×24” rectangle. With competitors shooting out to 35-yards, plates are shot as fast as possible. Each stage is fired five times, except for the Outer Limits stages, which are shot four times from two different positions.