Congratulations to Trudie Fay, the Fullbore (Target Rifle) Champion at the 2019 Spirit of America Match. Trudie won yet another major title competing at the challenging NRA Whittington Range in Raton, New Mexico. With her great hard-holding skills and superior wind-reading abilities, Trudie shot brilliantly to finish at the top of a very strong field of competitors. SEE Spirit of America Fullbore Top 20 Results.

Trudie had a very impressive performance at Raton this past week. In her Fullbore (sling and irons) Division, she finished at 1781-105X, four points ahead of runner-up Oliver Milanovic (1777-102X). Trudie also had the highest score on two of the Four Days, and was the only shooter to record a 449 single-day score, which she managed on both Day 1 and Day 3. And as you’d expect, Trudie had the high X-Count for the match. This was another brilliant display of marksmanship by Trudie, who is also one of the best wind coaches in the country.

Trudie’s .308 Win Palma-type rifle was built by gunsmith and stock-maker Doan Trevor in Arizona. Doan commented: “I have had the privilege of building Trudie’s rifles for the last few years. Congratulations, my friend… You did it again!”

Blast from the Past — Trudie on All-Ladies Team at Camp Perry
Trudie is one of America’s greatest female shooters. A few years ago, she teamed up with four other legendary lady shooters for an all-female team at Camp Perry. Left to Right are: Michelle Gallagher, Trudie Fay, Nancy Tompkins (coach), Anette Wachter, and Sherri Jo Gallagher. Nancy was the first female National High Power Champion. And Sherri Jo was the second.

Sling Shooting Results
In the sling class, Nancy Tompkins was far in the lead, followed by second place Bryan Litz, and Trudie Fay (who shot a Palma rifle) in third. It’s noteworthy that, after all the smoke had cleared, Bryan, Trudie, and 4th place Angus McLeod were tied in score, with only Xs separating second through fourth place. It was an exciting finish to say the least, especially for Bryan Litz whose poor performance in the Palma course started him in 25th place on Day One. Bryan went on to win both 1000-yard days, dropping only 2 points in 4 matches to climb to 2nd place overall. Trudie, who finished third overall among all sling shooters, also deserves recognition. Shooting a .308 Win Palma rifle with aperture sights the whole match, Trudie beat all but two Any/Any shooters who were allowed to use scopes and run any cartridge type they preferred.

F-Class Results
In the F-Open Class, Shiraz Balolia finished first shooting a .300 WSM. Freddy Haltom was second and Danny Biggs took third place. In the F-TR Division, John Hayhurst topped the field, followed by Lige Harris (second), and James Crofts (third place). CLICK HERE for more info and F-Class Top 10 Lists.

Profile of Winning F-TR Team from Michigan
The Michigan F-TR Team had a very successful debut, breaking the National record for the 4-man F-TR Palma team course. However, that same day Team USA Blue coached by Mid Tompkins shot two points higher to set the new official record. The Michigan F-TR team came back on the second day of team matches (4-man 1000 yards) and won by a decisive 15-point margin to win the day and the overall F-TR Team Aggregate. Coached by Bryan Litz, firing members of the Michigan F-TR team included: Al Barnhart (Captain), Doug Boyer, Bill Litz, and Dale Sunderman. Team members Charlie Hayes and Jennifer Litz (adjutant) were also present and contributed to the team’s success. In all it was a very successful and educational first tour for the Michigan team, considering it was only formed this winter and it only practiced together one time before traveling to Phoenix. One interesting technical note is that 3 out of 4 Michigan Team shooters used the new Berger 215gr Hybrid bullet. That’s a very heavy projectile for the .308 Winchester case, but the Michiganders certainly showed the potential of the heavy Hybrid in F-TR competition.

Below are match photos taken by Bryan Litz. You’ll find more Spirit of America Match photos on the Applied Ballistics Facebook Page.

Biggs Wins F-Open Division
Multi-time F-Class National Champion Danny Biggs won the F-Open Division with an impressive 1777-88X, three points ahead of Ryan Pierce (1774-87X), a master-level shooter who finished ahead of all the High Masters except Danny. Ryan is clearly a rising star in the F-Class world. Third overall with high X-Count for the match was Jim Murphy who scored 1766-90X. Placing fourth overall was Larry Bartholome, whose 1763-78X score also earned him High Senior Honors. (Photo at right is a file photo when Danny shot F-TR at the 2010 Championships.)

Michelle Gallagher of Berger Bullets won the F-TR division with a 1717-62X score. Michelle eged runner-up Laura Perry (1717-57X) on X-Count. Bill Watts finished third in the F-TR Division with a 1710-60X score.

Final Results have not yet been published for the team competition. But so far, in Fullbore Competition, the U.S. National 4-man Team, coached by Tom Whitaker, is in first place, while the 8-person United States Rifle Team, also coached by Whitaker, has a solid lead over the Bald Eagles Team. U.S. Rifle Team members are: Norm Crawford, Trudie Fay, Wayne Forshee, Johnie Franklin, Boyd Goldsby, Noma Mayo, Kent Reeve, and John Rhynard.

Berger 4- and 8-man Teams Lead in F-Class Team Competition
In F-Class Team events, the 4-Man Team Berger (Larry Bartholome, Danny Biggs, Robert Bock, Jim Murphy) has a 6-point lead over Team Sierra Spindle Shooters. In the SOA 8-man F-Class Team event, the Berger Right-Left Team, coached by Mid Tompkins, has a solid lead over the Insane Clown Posse, coached by Mid’s wife Nancy Tompkins. (It’s all in the family we guess.)

CLICK HERE for latest SOA Match Results