RIFLE TEAM WILL OPEN 2016 COMPETITION IN CHARLESTON, SC.
1/15/2016 12:00:00 AM | Rifle
U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo. – The Citadel rifle team host, No. 6 Air Force and No. 11 Jacksonville State this weekend, Jan. 16-17, in Charleston, S.C. The competition gets underway inside the Inouye Marksmanship Center both days at 8 a.m. Saturday's match features the Bulldogs, Gamecocks and Falcons, while Sunday is a dual against Air Force.
Seniors David Higgins, Kevyn Stinett and Tyler Rico return, along with juniors Ryan Jacobs, Mary Simonton and Noah Kwock. In official scoring, Higgins has an 1171 season average and shot a season best 594 in air rifle versus Alaska. His smallbore season best is 588 against Nebraska and West Virginia earlier in the season, and he has been averaging a 199.6 in the prone event. Stinett, who is averaging an 1151 for the season, posted a season best 575 in the smallbore and 590 in the air rifle earlier in the season. Rico's averages are a 575 in smallbore and 591 in the air rifle (1167). Jacobs' highs are a 580 in smallbore and 593 in air rifle, his season-best aggregate is an 1172. Simonton scored a season high in 2015 with a 572 air rifle and 558 smallbore against TCU in October.
Sophomore Spencer Brandon competed in the 2015 Winter Air Gun Championships in December and finished 34th with 1833 points in the men's finals. Sophomore Noah Kwock, who only shot in the first half of the season, competed in the 2015 Winter Air Gun Championships in Colorado Springs. He finished 63rd in the men's 10m Air Gun with 1796 points, and in the juniors he finished 46th.
The Falcons have a group of freshmen that are proving to be competitive shooters in Anna Weilbacher, Nick Learn and Spencer Cap. In December, Weilbacher finished 24th in the women's junior 10m Air Gun at the Winter Air Gun Championships, she was 34th in the women's championships with a total score of 1223.8. Her career-best scores are 582 in smallbore and 593 in the air rifle, and she is averaging 1161 total points for the season. Learn enters 2016 after shooting an 1822.6 in the Winter Air Gun men's junior where he finished ranked 20th, in the men's 10m, he was ranked 46th. Cap also competed in the Winter Air Guns where he finished sixth in men's junior and 15th in the men's championships with 1850.5 points.
The Falcons return to competition with a 6-5 record.
