SHOOTING : Professor Gets the Drop on His Students

After Dan Iuga had fired the five consecutive bursts that constitute a round of rapid-fire pistol, he looked over his shooting glasses, much like a professor lecturing a class.

No surprise there.

Thursday’s rapid-fire pistol finals at the USA Shooting national championships was, in a way, simply another day at school for Iuga and the seven other shooters who had advanced to the final round at the Prado-Tiro shooting ranges in Chino.

Iuga coached the national pistol team from 1983-1992, when most of the shooters opposing him Thursday were getting started.

“Almost all of them were my students,” Iuga said.

The former Romanian Olympic team member, who has competed for the United States since 1993, proved that he is still the teacher, but only by the slimmest of margins. He edged former pupil Ed Suarez of San Jose for the title, 684.5-684.3. It was a victory so narrow that Iuga, who had never won an individual national title in the United States, thought he had lost.

“I walked over to Ed after the final round and congratulated him,” Iuga said. “I was sure he had won. And I am sad for him because he shot so well.”

Suarez had practically begged his way to Chino. The 29-year-old is in the midst of a six-week ROTC training program at Ft. Lewis in Washington. He will be a senior at the University of Minnesota and his summer has been spent trying to impress Army brass.

But Suarez needed to compete here if he wanted to shoot in the Atlanta Olympics next year. The nationals are a mandatory Olympic qualifying event for pistol shooters.

“It went all the way to the regional commander,” Suarez said. “They don’t let anyone leave [the program], especially not for five days. I realize they were making quite an exception in my case.”

And Suarez didn’t press his luck. His flight back to Ft. Lewis was scheduled to leave two hours after he fired his final shot.