Barrett FreemanThe Ole Miss rifle team capped off its historic season this weekend with a third place finish in the NCAA Championship, hosted in Columbus, Ohio. After all the Rebels have accomplished this season, the women weren’t quite finished and brought home a lot of hardware.
The Rebels had not been to the championship since 2006, and it was only their second time in history to compete in the tournament. After a weekend of strong competition that featured top competitors from around the country, the Rebels placed third in air rifle, smallbore and overall as a team. The Rebels had a final overall score of 4,710, which is the highest the team has scored in the program’s history.
“The team really performed well at the championships this weekend,” head coach Marsha Beasley said from Ole Miss Athletics. “I’m very proud of how everyone worked through the challenges and put up good scores. All season, we’ve been focused and working very hard, and it really showed this weekend. It’s exciting to see where we will go from here.”
Freshman Lea Horvath had an outstanding weekend shooting and is only just getting started with her career. On Friday, she secured the bronze honor in smallbore. On Saturday, Horvath was hot in the running to place at the top of the air rifle competition. The top three competitors, including Horvath, were within .5 of each other as things got close. Horvath notched three perfect scores of 100 and finished third in air rifle with 597.
The rest of the team modeled Horvath and showed up to show out over the weekend. In smallbore, sophomore Kristen Derting finished ninth overall with a1,178. Derting also was the next behind Horvath in air rifle the next day with a score of 595. After Derting came juniors Jilliam Zakreski and Erin Walsh, as well as senior Abby Buesseler. The trio notched scores of 591,590 and 587, respectively.
“The team shot great and truly competed as a team,” assistant coach Jean-Pierre Lucas said from Ole Miss Athletics. “They’ve been working hard and making a lot of progress. With that said, the team was very focused and had a clear understanding of how they wanted to compete. They did exactly that. We are very proud of this team and proud of everything they have accomplished this season.”
While there is plenty to look forward to for next season, with the core of the group returning, the Rebels finish the 2020-2021 season with arguably their best season. The Rebels’ overall record landed at 11-1 to end the season.
