Rifle Falls To Reno-Nevada In Home Shoot
10/28/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Rifle
Oct. 28, 2002
The Air Force rifle team is off to a rocky start, having dropped its first two shoots of the season to Nebraska, 4613-4546 in smallbore and 1540-1527 in air rifle, and to Reno-Nevada, 4526-4575 (smallbore) and 1541-1522 (air).
The Falcons fired their season-opening match at Nebraska, Oct. 19. The Huskers set a new range record for total score on their way to a 6,153-6,073 win over Air Force. Senior Nick Breffitt tied for third with Nebraska's Melissa Downsbrough with a total score of 1157 in smallbore. Freshmen Chris Hill and Tim Siemer followed with a total score of 1152 and 1142 respectively. In air rifle, Breffitt finished with a total score of 388 to take second to Nebraska's Amanda Trujillo who finished first with a total of 393. Senior Brian DeBruhl and freshman Edward Gallagher tied for fifth for the Falcons with a total of 381.
Against Nevada, Hill fired the highest smallbore score with an 1159 out of 1200. Hill was followed closely by Nevada's Ryan Tanoue who fired an 1156 in the smallbore event. Ryan Tanoue is the 2002 NCAA Individual Air Rifle Champion.
On Sunday, Nevada once again showed why they are considered one of the favorites for the 2003 NCAA Championships in air rifle by posting a 1541 out of 1600 in the air rifle event. Air Force shot a 1522 out of 1600.
"Our performance was a little weak by three of our four first team members," said head coach Capt. Justin Broughton. Breffitt led the Falcons with a 386 out of 400. Ryan Tanoue of Nevada was the high shooter of the match with a 394 out of 400.
"Overall, our performance was about the same as last week, with different shooters rising to the occasion and a few stumbles by others," said Broughton.
"Right now we are just a little inconsistent. Our shooters have fired scores this year that will break all of our team records. We just need to synchronize all of our shooters at the same time. We are early in the season and I am pretty happy with where we are going to be."
The team is off this week and leave Nov. 7 to travel to West Point to compete against Army, Navy, Coast Guard and the Merchant Marine Academy. The match at Army on 9 Nov will be attended by all the Service Academies for the President's Cup.
