Seven weekends in a row of high-level collegiate rifle matches may have worn down the Akron Zips just a little, but the team still managed to walk away with another win under their belts. No. 10 Akron outdistanced itself from No. 19 University of North Georgia, 4692 to 4647 at the match held in Lexington, Kentucky, on Sunday, October 27.
The smallbore division belonged to Akron with five team members cresting the 580 mark. The redshirt senior duo of Erin Schnupp and Gavin Perkowski tied with like 586s, with Perkowski eking out the win by two more center shots than Schnupp. How’s that for close. The impressive performance of the team in the sling positions was a huge contributing factor in Akron’s smallbore performance. For instance, Perkowski again tied the school record for kneeling with his 199. Several other Akron shooters landed with scores of 199 in prone. It appears all the work the team has been doing in the slinged positions (prone and kneeling) is paying off.
And then there was air rifle. Right out of the gate, several Akron competitors dropped two or three points in the first 10-shot series. In rifle lingo this is called, “digging yourself in a hole that you must climb out of.” But with the likes of Alison Sutherlin (594) and Maya Cameron (591) from North Georgia, the Zips could not catch the Nighthawks, who secured the team air rifle prize with a score of 2358 to Akron’s 2357. Perkowski lead the team with a score of 593, while junior Rachael Paddock set a new season-high mark of 591. The rest of the Akron Zips remained in that hole I mentioned earlier. However, every now and then it takes a piece of humble pie to provide energy for improvement—and believe me when I say the Akron rifle team is now motivated.
Results: Akron vs. North Georgia on Sunday, October 27, 2024
See the full scorecard at the NCAA rifle website.
With a well-deserved weekend off to celebrate All Hallows’ Eve, the team will step back in action with a trip to the University of Memphis on Saturday, November 9. The match will start up at 8:30 a.m. Central Time. The targets can be viewed live at this link.
Learn more about the University of Akron Zips and University of North Georgia Nighthawks rifle teams.
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