Collegiate Rifle: Akron Rifle Dominates Morehead State

The three-way match on the schedule for Saturday, January 20, had to be modified at the last minute as icy conditions in Mississippi prevented the Ole Miss rifle team from making the trek to Akron, Ohio. The conference matchup between Akron and Ole Miss has been rescheduled to Saturday, February 10. However, the Morehead State Eagles did make the trip to Akron. Despite its best efforts, Morehead State fell to the Akron Zips, 4693 to 4637.

During the home match against Morehead State on Saturday, January 20, Akron senior Erin Schnupp (center) led the individual smallbore standings with a score of 585. (Photo by Newt Engle)

Leading the smallbore division, Akron senior Erin Schnupp topped the leaderboard posting a respectable 585 out of 600, only three points off her career-best mark. Also breaking into the elite 580s were two Akron shooters, senior Gavin Perkowski (584) and junior Rachel Engels (580), who shared the top three spots with Schnupp.

The excitement on the air rifle range was due to Akron senior Lex Kirk pounding the center of the target. This effort landed Kirk in the top-gun slot with a score of 597, only one point off the school record and a new career high for Kirk. The familiar duo of Perkowski (595) and Engels (591) rounded out the top-three air rifle performers for Akron rifle.

The top shooter for Morehead State was graduate student Bryce Ward with an aggregate score of 1164 (air rifle 584, smallbore 580), ranking him seventh on the individual match leaderboard.

Results: Morehead State vs. Akron on Saturday, January 20, 2024.

Screenshot courtesy of NCAA.

View the complete scorecard at the NCAA rifle website.

Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association Top 20 Rankings

• 1. West Virginia University
• 2. Texas Christian University
• 3. Kentucky
• 4. Alaska-Fairbanks
• 5. Georgia Southern
• 6. Ole Miss
• 7. Air Force
• 8. Nebraska
• 9. Murray State
• 9. Ohio State
• 11. Akron
• 12. Memphis
• 13. Navy
• 14. Army
• 15. Jacksonville State
• 16. Morehead State
• 17. North Georgia
• 18. UT-Martin
• 19. UTEP
• 20. Alabama-Birmingham

Above rankings are current as of Tuesday, January 23, 2024.

With only six days to prepare, the Akron rifle squad will travel to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., to compete with the No. 15-ranked Navy Midshipmen, along with the No. 1-ranked team in the nation, the West Virginia University Mountaineers. The matches will start at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 27. Targets during the competition will be live to view at this link.

Learn more about the Akron and Morehead State rifle teams.