Category: Interviews

The “Good Enough” Strategy That Won a National Championship: Tory Kirkland’s First Individual Title

Action Gunner December 17, 2025

Lauren Kalil’s series with the 2025 Tactical Games National Champions continues with an athlete who took 31st place on one stage, 24th on another, and still walked away with the Men’s Tactical title. Tory Kirkland had never competed as an individual at Tactical Games Nationals before this year. He’d done plenty of team events—that’s actually how Lauren first met him back in 2023, when he was partnered with Bri. But individual competition? That was new

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The Mindset That Saved a Championship: Meg Kennedy’s Zero-Point Stage and the Win That Followed

Action Gunner December 15, 2025

Lauren Kalil’s series with the 2025 Tactical Games National Champions continues with one of the sport’s true OGs—a competitor who got a stage DQ at Nationals and still walked away with the title. Meg Kennedy has been competing in Tactical Games since 2019, back when the women’s division was three or four athletes total. She won Women’s Elite in 2021, then watched the weights climb year after year until she made a decision that some

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The Man Who Might Have Created the Monster: Tim Simansky Finally Gets His Championship

Action Gunner December 10, 2025

Lauren Kalil’s series with the 2025 Tactical Games National Champions continues with a competitor who’s been chasing this goal for five years—and may have accidentally recruited the sport’s most dominant athlete along the way. Tim Simansky has been grinding toward a Tactical Games national championship since 2020. He got on the podium in Men’s Elite back in 2021, then watched injuries and an increasingly deep field push that goal further away year after year. Torn

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From Olympic Horse Trainer to Tactical Games Champion: Becky Wagner’s Undefeated Season

Action Gunner December 8, 2025

Lauren Kalil’s series with the 2025 Tactical Games National Champions continues—this time with her first in-person guest. Becky Wagner won the Women’s 40+ division after going undefeated all season, and her path to the podium is unlike anything you’ve heard before. Becky Wagner trains horses for a four-time Olympian. She has a prosthetic disc in her neck from a snowmobile accident. She used to send her uncle money as a kid to stop hunting—now she

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The Four-Time Champ Who Says He Can Be Beat: Jacob Heppner on Dominance, Dry Fire, and Dialing His Pistol

Action Gunner December 3, 2025

Lauren Kalil continues her series with the 2025 Tactical Games National Champions. This time, she sits down with the most dominant Men’s Elite competitor the sport has ever seen—and he’s got some surprising things to say about his own vulnerability. Jacob Heppner has won Tactical Games Nationals four years in a row. Let that sink in. In a sport that combines elite fitness with precision shooting under stress, where equipment failures can tank your weekend

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Inside the Mind of a Three-Time Champion: Jenay DeCaussin on Winning Tactical Games Nationals

Action Gunner December 1, 2025

Lauren Kalil is sitting down with all the 2025 Tactical Games National Champions in her latest interview series. She kicked things off with the most dominant Women’s Elite competitor the sport has ever seen—and we’re excited to share the conversation with our readers. Jenay DeCaussin doesn’t just win. She keeps winning. At the 2025 Tactical Games National Championship, she captured her third consecutive title in Women’s Elite. That’s not a typo. Three years in a

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