Rifle Resumes Season This Weekend
1/8/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Rifle
Jan. 8, 2002
The Falcon rifle squad is gearing up to resume its season as it prepares to host Kentucky and Wyoming Saturday, Jan. 12, in its first shoot of the new year. The 2001-02 season has been an exciting season so far for Air Force. The Falcons are a young team and are excited and eager to improve their ranking.
Air Force shot its first match of the season against Nebraska, October 20. The Falcons fell in air rifle 1536-1518 and in smallbore .22, 4598-4504. Team captain C1C (Sr.) Michael Granberry led Air Force in the air rifle event with a 382. C2C (Jr.) Nicholas Breffitt led in smallbore shooting an 1145. The following weekend, the Falcons shot against West Virginia and Wyoming. Air Force lost to West Virginia in the first day of competition, 6117-6013. In smallbore, West Virginia beat the Falcons 4599-4500. In air rifle West Virginia won by only five points, 1518-1513. "As it was a three-way competition for us, we ended up splitting overall by defeating Wyoming 6013-6001," said Air Force head coach Capt. Justin Broughton. Granberry had the highest individual air rifle score with a 387 out of 400. Breffitt continued to climb and led in smallbore with an 1143.
Air Force competed the following day against Wyoming who also went up against West Virginia. "We improved our scores in both events with a 4502 in smallbore and a 1522 in air rifle," said Broughton. Breffitt continued his upward climb and improved by two points to an 1145 in smallbore and C3C (So.) Jason Waldow shot a personal best 1136. Breffitt also shot the first "perfect" 100 target on the Falcons home range in the air rifle event.
Air Force hosted Army and Coast Guard in a three-way Nov. 2. The competition is normally the President's Trophy match between the four service academies, but Navy was unable to attend. Army won the match with a combined score of 6097. The Falcons finished second with 6030 and Coast Guard was third with 5974. Granberry led Air Force in both events with an 1151 in smallbore and a 382 in air rifle. Granberry and Breffitt tied for third overall in the air rifle event with 382 of 400. Breffitt and Waldow battled for second place in smallbore as each shot an 1133. "Overall our air rifle score was about 10 points lower than the previous week, but the smallbore rifle scores continue to improve," said Broughton.
The Falcons fell 6048-5980 to the Univ. of Texas-El Paso Dec.1. UTEP topped Air Force in smallbore, 4541-4480, and in air rifle, 1507-1496. Breffitt led the Falcons in smallbore with an 1137 and in air rifle with a 382.
