Collegiate Rifle: Ole Miss Falls To Akron

Newt Engle

posted on February 12, 2024

News

Support NRA Shooting Sports USA DONATE

** When you buy products through the links on our site, we may earn a commission that supports NRA's mission to protect, preserve and defend the Second Amendment. **

Akronrifle Feb12 2024 4 — At the home match against Ole Miss on Saturday, Feb. 10, the Akron Zips rifle team defeated the Rebels for the first time in many years, 4703 to 4699.

Newt Engle

On Saturday, February 10, the 12th-ranked Akron Zips hosted perennial powerhouse and No. 7-ranked Ole Miss on Senior Day in Akron, Ohio. For the first time in many years, the Akron rifle squad pounded the center of the target enough times to finish ahead of Ole Miss, 4703-4699. The Akron rifle team knew they would need to fight hard for each and every shot, and that is exactly what they did.

As a coach, I couldn’t be prouder.

At its home match on Saturday, February 10, the Akron rifle team defeated Ole Miss, 4703-4699. The 4703 aggregate score is the third highest of the season for Akron rifle.

Akron senior Gavin Perkowski yet again lead the team in the smallbore division earning the match top-gun honors with his 589 out of 600. This was one slim point off his career-high score of 590. To demonstrate how tight the competition was, there was a three-way tie for second place in smallbore, all with like 582s. After applying the tiebreaker, Akron junior Rachel Engels landed between two Ole Miss Rebels clinching her third-place finish. Additionally, accolades go to Akron redshirt senior Katie Paltz, who established a career-high score of 579 at her last home match.

Similar to smallbore, the air rifle competition was equally tight. Akron junior Lex Kirk and Ole Miss senior Martina Gratz tied for the top-gun honors with like 596s. Kirk ended up in second, with Perkowski one small point behind with 595, endding up between two Ole Miss athletes with like 595s. Perkowski ended up in fourth place. This whole match with both rifles was Akron up by one, then Ole Miss up by one over and over again. It truly was a hard-fought match falling in favor of Akron.

Although the team won the overall aggregate and the match, in team air rifle Ole Miss prevailed, 2376-2375.

The top Ole Miss shooter at the match was junior Katie Tedeschi with an individual aggregate score of 1177 (595 air rifle, 582 smallbore).

Results: Ole Miss vs. Akron on Saturday, February 10, 2024.

Screenshot courtesy of NCAA Rifle.

See the full scorecard at the NCAA rifle website.

The final regular season match of the 2023-2024 season will take place next weekend at Ohio State on Saturday, February 17, at 9:00 a.m. Arguably the most important match of the season, this competition will be the last part of the final determination of who gets invited to the 2024 NCAA Rifle Championships at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia, next month. Match targets for this NCAA qualifier match may be viewed live live at this link.

Akron senior Samantha Shultz, a member of the team for the past four years, was recognized on Senior Day, along with teammates Jakob Rankin, Brendan Seitz and Katie Paltz.

Learn more about the Akron and Ole Miss rifle teams.