The weekend started on a high note with Akron posting the second score of the season in the 4700s by defeating UT-Martin 4704 to 4658. Then, even though Ole Miss left the door open for an upset, Akron cooled a little allowing the Rebels to be the victor, 4702 to 4694. How could I possibly be disappointed with the team posting scores better than where we left off last spring? However, my sincere belief is this team is more than capable of scores in the 4720s and I have no doubt they will prove me to be correct. Additionally—and this is much more of a praise than an excuse—almost our entire team was affected by a rather nasty head and chest cold this past week. We emptied boxes of tissues while one team member, then another, had to stop in the middle of the match to recuperate, and they still competed at this elite level.
Smallbore continued to be the strong part of the two-gun competition. Seniors Erin Schnupp, Gavin Perkowski and Lex Kirk simply pounded the center of the target earning top spots for team Akron. Three Zips—Schnupp, Kirk and junior Natalia Siek—each completed the perfect 200 series in the prone position. This is no small accomplishment which the team has been training hard to achieve. Schnupp also set a new school record in the kneeling position with her score of 199-16X. Lastly, welcome fresh faced senior Joseph Hahn to the leaderboard (585), finishing third for Akron.
The air rifle machine we call Gavin Perkowski continued his winning ways by achieving season-high scores of 597 and 596 out of the possible 600. An amazing accomplishment considering the condition he was in. Seniors Lex Kirk and Rachel Engels also kept pressing their daily scores into the mid-590s.
Leaderboard: Akron vs. UT Martin, Oct. 11, 2024
Leaderboard: Akron vs. Ole Miss, Oct. 12, 2024
See the full results of both matches at the NCAA website.
This weekend on Saturday, October 19, Akron will host John Jay College of New York. The scoreboards will light up at 8:30 a.m. The targets may be viewed live at this link.
