Michelle Beats Mom by a Single ‘X’ to Win LR Championship
Story based on report by Lars Dalseide for NRA Blog
An epic mother-daughter duel came down to a single X, with Michelle Gallagher besting her mom, Nancy Tompkins, by the slimmest of margins. To accomplish that feat, and win the Long Range National Championship, Michelle had to shoot a superb final match at 1000 yards, not dropping a point. Congratulations to Michelle, for her impressive win.
Finishing with 1096-66X, Gallagher took the LR title with Tompkins (1096-65X) in second and SSG Brandon Green (1096-59X) in third. Thomas Colyer was forth with 1096-56X. Remarkably, the top four shooters all finished with the same point total, only separated by X count!
Michelle (Left) is ‘all smiles’ with sister Sherri Jo Gallagher (Right), a former National Champion.
900-Yard Phase Cancelled By Lightning Storm
Michelle Gallagher shot a perfect 300-19X in Saturday’s Palma Match to win the 2014 National Long Range Rifle Championship. Beginning the day two points down, Gallagher racked up fifteen 10s at 800 yards along with another fifteen 10s at 1,000. Though Palma traditionally includes a 900-yard phase as well, that portion of Saturday’s match was cancelled due to the morning’s lightning storm.
“Talk about an exciting finish,” said High Power Rifle Match Director Sherri Judd. “She hung in there after dropping a few points in the early rounds and finished strong.”
“After finishing at 1,000, I knew it was going to be close by I had no idea it would be that close,” Gallagher said.
Other notable performances were turned in by Waylon Burbach, James (Jim) O’Connell, and SFC Joel Micholick. Burbach, as a Junior, shot a superb 1091-55X to beat all but six of the 282 competitors. Jim O’Connell, as a Grand Senior, proved he still has what it takes, finishing sixteenth overall with 1086-52X. “Man, that old guy can shoot!” was often heard on the firing line. Micholick proved the capability of the AR platform, recording a 1074-34X with his iron-sighted M110 to be the top Service Rifle shooter.
| Competitor | Score | Competitor | Score |
| 1. Michelle Gallagher | 1096-66X | 6. Philip Crowe | 1093-60X |
| 2. Nancy Tompkins | 1096-65X | 7. Waylon Burbach | 1091-55X |
| 3. SSG Brandon Green | 1096-59X | 8. Norman Crawford | 1091-50X |
| 4. SSG Thomas Colyer | 1096-56X | 9. SGT Eric Smith | 1090-58X |
| 5. SSG Shane Barnhart | 1095-60X | 10. John Whidden | 1089-64X |
