Catherine JeffersComing off a third place overall finish at the NCAA Rifle Championship, Ole Miss Rifle opened up their season against No. 3 nationally ranked West Virginia, falling in the contest 4683-4733.
This was the Rebels’ first time competing at the Ole Miss range in front of fans in almost two years. Fans were welcomed in to tailgate with food and lawn games as the first smallbore relay began.
Throughout the contest, the Rebels and Mountaineers competed in both air rifle and smallbore shooting.
In the air rifle competition, Claire O’Neel led the Rebels with a mark of 594, tying her career-high. Alongside O’Neel, Erin Walsh, Martina Gratz and Abby Buesseler finished off air rifle with scores of 592, 589 and 589, respectively.
Despite the strong air rifle showing from the Rebels, the Mountaineers edged them out with a score of 2385-2364.
Throughout smallbore, Buesseler and Jillian Zakrzeski fired matching scores of 583 to lead the way. However, M’Leah Lambdin and Walsh’s scores of 577 and 576 were not enough to surpass West Virginia’s smallbore score, with the Rebels losing 2348-2319.
The Rebels dropped their season opener against West Virginia and will return to competition at Murray State on Oct. 10.
