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Rifle Team Earns Split in Week Two of Sectionals
The mixed rifle team came away with a split in their matches last weekend at the NRA Philadelphia Area Sectionals which took place at the Colonel William Shea Rifle Range on the USciences campus. The Devils defeated Princeton University and Loyola College (Maryland) while losing to Penn State University and John Jay College.
The Devils two wins were in smallbore only contests, with Devils defeating Princeton, 2134-1808 and Loyola 2134-1843. Penn State recorded a 4367-4245 win over the Devils and John Jay eked out a three-point win 4248-4245.
In smallbore competition, Sciences had two of the top four scorers amongst the 35 shooters competing. Brad Driscoll had the high smallbore score of the match, shooting 568 (97, 99 prone; 92, 92 stand; 93, 95 kneel) while Sam Fowler was the fourth amongst all the shooters with a score of 553 (98, 98 prone; 88, 89 stand; 89, 91 kneel).
The Devils two remaining scorers Tim Wu and Allen Whisler finished 12th and 13 with scores of 510 (97, 99 prone; 72, 67 stand; 82, 93 kneel) and 503 (89, 93 prone; 71, 74 stand; 86, 90 kneel) respectively. Sciences smallbore team score was 2134.
Princeton's Xingxue Li had the second highest smallbore score in the match with 560 while Penn State's Tonya Kocher was third with a score of 559. The Nittany Lions three other shooters all finished in the top ten overall with Kyle Freeley placing fifth with a score of 551; Nicole McMahon eighth with a score of 537 and Nick Kussoff tenth with a score of 514.
John Jay's Stephen Zawislak (548) and Jenna Hansen (525) were the Bloodhounds top two smallbore scorers, finishing seventh and ninth respectively. Devonmarie Esposito of Loyola was the Greyhounds only shooter in the top ten with a smallbore score of 549, placing sixth amongst the 35 smallbore shooters.
In air rifle, Driscoll had the second highest score of the match, a 571 (99, 90, 96, 97, 95, 94) one point behind Penn State's Kocher. Fowler was sixth with a score of 551 (92, 96, 90, 91, 95, 87). Wu and Kyle Leath rounded out the Devils four air rifle scorers finishing 16th and 18th respectively. Wu shot 496 (83, 84, 77, 88, 85, 79) while Leath shot 493 (78, 80, 86, 83, 77, 89).
John Jay's Zawislak and Hansen were third and fourth respectively with Zawislak shooting 568 and Hansen 557. Penn State's Freeley, McMahon and Kussoff joined Kocher amongst the top ten air rifle shooter with scores of 555, 546 and 533, placing fifth, seventh and tenth. USciences women's rifle team member Nicole Churchill was eighth in air rifle with a score of 537 while John Jay's Kerri Hansen was ninth with a score of 535.
The Devils return to action on Saturday, February 12, 2011 when they travel up to West Point, New York to shoot their NCAA qualifier match at the United State Military Academy.
