Rifle Finishes Mid-Season With Wins Over UTEP
12/4/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Rifle
Dec. 4, 2002
The Air Force rifle team capped off its mid-season with two wins over UTEP, Nov. 22-23. The Falcons won the first competition, 3819-3772. Air Force edged UTEP, 3803-3801, in the second day of competition to improve its record to 4-4 this season.
Both days were close competitions. UTEP were up on the Falcons after the first two phases of the match during Friday's shoot, only to see Air Force come during the second two phases to win. UTEP led by four points after the prone shoot. In standing they added another seven to increase their margin to 11. Air Force then shot some of its best kneeling of the year to take a 27-point lead in kneeling and an overall smallbore margin of 16 points (2285-2269). UTEPs Sarah Paoletta was the highest shooter on Friday with a 585 half-course score.
"Consistency was our key to victory in that we had the second place score fired by our team captain Nick Breffit with a 583," said rifle head coach Capt. Justin Broughton.
"We also had the third place score fired by Chris Hill with a 577 and fourth place by Tim Siemer with a 573, " said Broughton.
"Rounding out our four- person first team in smallbore was another freshman, Edward Gallagher, who had a rough day but managed a 552. The three freshmen that made our starting line up this week show great promise for how we are going to be doing over the next few years."
"Both days our saving grace and area where I was most proud of our team was our ability to shoot very well in the air rifle event," said Broughton.
"We have depth in the smallbore event, but we are very deep and getting better every day in the air rifle event."
The air rifle team consisted of Breffitt with a 390, Hill with a 384, senior Brian DeBruhl with a 381 and junior Jason Waldow with a 379. Other notables in the air rifle event on Friday were Gallagher with a 385 and sophomore Mike Festa with a 380.
"Saturday, we won a nail biter over UTEP again," said Broughton. "We won by two points after four hours of competition and 4000 possible points. That is as close as we ever see in rifle matches. Once again, the air rifle team score of 1536 was very consistent and good. Overall, it was a good close to our home matches for the year."
The team will be in action again in January 18-19 on the road against West Virginia Univ. and Ohio State Univ.
