How close is close? Each shot is worth 10 points if it touches the dot in the center of the target. Each shot is worth one less point for each line outside of the dot. Every athlete fires 120 shots for a team total of 480 shots. Each shot is potentially worth 10 points. One small lapse in concentration, projectile, rifle performance or phase of the moon (well, not really that one) can cost points. Thus, when a team score is within 10 or so points of the other team, that is close. Less than 10 points is quite close, and that is what happened for the Akron rifle team on its home range on Sunday, November 17.
Despite Nebraska shooting its second-highest score of the season, the No. 14-ranked Zips also posted its second-best score of the season (4707) and nearly upset the No. 7-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers (4710). The three-point spread falls into that quite close category. However, the story of the day was No. 12 Navy, who upset the Cornhuskers, 4717 to 4710. This yet another amazingly close score was made possible by the Navy Midshipmen posting a season-high score. What an exciting day on the Akron ranges.
The Akron smallbore team score of 2344 is the second-highest score in program history—only two points shy of the 2346 record. This was made possible by the familiar duo of fifth-year seniors Erin Schnupp (588) and Gavin Perkowski (587). This tied Perkowski’s season high score. Big thanks to junior Natalia Siek, who equaled her season-best mark at 586. Rounding out the top four, junior Rachael Paddock contributed a nice 583.
The 594 score fired by Perkowski in air rifle led the Akron squad. The other two Zips in the 590s were seniors Lex Kirk (591) and Rachel Engels (590). In addition, it was great to see senior Cory Stroupe set his new season-high air score of 581.
Topping the individual aggregate leaderboard at the match was Nebraska junior Emma Rhode with a score of 1189-91X, followed by Navy sophomore Isabella Baldwin with 1186-95X. Akron’s Perkowski was in third with 1181-85X.
Results: Akron vs. Navy and Nebraska on Nov. 17, 2024
You can see the full results of the match at the NCAA rifle website.
With a short turnaround, the Akron Zips squad will load up and travel for the first time to the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The action-packed weekend will include a match on Saturday, November 23, at the Academy and a showdown the following day at the nearby U.S. Olympic Training Center. No. 14 Akron will face off against No. 7 Air Force and No. 5 Kentucky each of the two days. You can view the live targets at this link. Both matches will start at 8:00 a.m. Mountain Time.
