Well, that certainly did not go the way we imagined. With the NCAA qualifier match at Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday, February 17, counting a full 50 percent towards a NCAA Championship invite, firing a score slightly below average will not land the team in a good place. Despite an outstanding regular season and an exceptional effort at the qualifier, after posting a score of 4689, Akron will slip from its No. 12 ranking to finish the season at No. 13. With the field now set, it looks like Akron will not be attending the 2024 NCAA Rifle Championship at West Virginia University, March 8-9.
The Ohio State rifle team walked away from the match with a team aggregate score of 4710, and Nebraska finished with a score of 4703.
Despite the undesirable team outcome for Akron rifle, among the individual performances worth noting was the perfect 10-shot series of 100 in the standing position achieved by junior Lex Kirk. Getting a perfect 100 in standing is a remarkable achievement. Akron senior Erin Schnupp is now the third athlete on the squad to fire a perfect 200 in the prone position. Lastly, senior Gavin Perkowski took command of the air rifle field and earned top gun at the match by posting a 596 out of 600. Early calculations are showing Perkowski as having a good possibility of earning one of only four air rifle individual invitations to the NCAA Championships.
The top shooter at the match was Nebraska junior Cecelia Ossi with an individual aggregate of 1188 (595 air rifle, 593 smallbore). In the number two spot was Ohio State senior Derek Keiser with 1184 (595 air rifle, 589 smallbore).
The official announcement of the team and individual invitations will take place Monday, February 19, at 6:00 p.m. ET. The selection show can be viewed live at 6:00 p.m. on this link at NCAA.com.
With one match remaining in what is now t post-season, the entire Akron Zips squad will load up and travel to the West Point Military Academy in New York for the Great America Rifle Conference Championships (GARC). As the host, Army plans to fire the smallbore portion of the championships on Saturday, February 24, and air rifle on Sunday, February 25. With a lot of fight left in them, Team Akron will head to the GARC championships with renewed determination to bring home some awards. I for one feel they have a very real possibility of making this happen.
As one of the larger teams at the championship, individual Akron rifle team members will be firing on every relay from 8:00 a.m. until early afternoon on both days. Results and live targets may be viewed at this link.
Results: Akron at NCAA Qualifiers on Saturday, February 17.
See the full match scorecard at the NCAA rifle website.
Learn more about the Akron, Ohio State and Nebraska rifle teams.
