Story by Keenan Hall
Staff writer
The fifth-ranked Murray State rifle team defeated the University of Alabama-Birmingham and Georgia Southern in a tri-match Friday morning at Ole Miss.
Racer senior Barbara Schlapfer shot a 585 in smallbore and a 594 in air rifle to lead her team with an aggregate of 1179. Murray State senior Mackenzie Martin led all shooters with a 586 in smallbore, while junior Shelby Huber fell right behind with 584.
Head Coach Alan Lollar praised his team’s consistency and strong shooting to start the season.
“I was really happy with the match overall,” Lollar said. “We shot a little better than last week. “We were very consistent in smallbore with three people over 580 out of the counters.”
Racer freshman Kelcy McGrath seized a match-high in air rifle with 595, but fell behind teammate Schlapfer by three points with a 1176. Despite falling behind in aggregate, McGrath raised her overall from week one by 19 points.
“Really proud of Kelcy’s day, stepping up in air rifle for us,” Lollar said. “She is going to be a contributor for us this year I think in a big way.”
Murray State will move on to the inaugural Kentucky Long Rifle Match hosted by the number-one ranked University of Kentucky. It will be at tri-match between Morehead State, the Racers and the Wildcats.
“I’m looking forward to next week; it’ll be a challenging match between Kentucky, Morehead and us,” Lollar said.
The match will be at 9 a.m on Saturday, Oct. 13 in Lexington, Kentucky.
