Second Rifle Match

[Zipsrifle]

Well, we were able to make the trip to the range this past weekend to see the team. Unfortunately we showed up later than we would have liked....kids will do that to you. I didn't get much of a chance to watch the team shoot as we walked in right as John Jay was leaving but the final line was still firing. It was good to talk with Coach, he had some great stories to tell.....he should write a book, seriously. We are lucky to have someone so dedicated to the sport and willing to make due with so little. Anyway, the press release on Gozips.com sums it up. The scores were OK but I think there is room for improvement. Akron took 5 of the top 6 spots in Smallbore and 9 of the Akron shooters were within 10 points of each other which, as I mentioned, is a good thing for inter-team competition. I expect if one of the shooters can consistently bring their scores up, the rest will follow. In air rifle, Akron took the top 6 spots and with the top 4 Akron shooters posting what I think are good scores for this point in the season, better on average than that 575 bogey I look for. For some reason, Akron has always been better in Air Rifle than SB....but it doesn't always translate over to the offhand portion of SM which puzzles me.Rough weekend next week for the team, two matches in two days, one against Morehead State and the other against the defending National Champions. I hate Morehead state, and I think I've told the story here in the past why. I would love to see another Cinderella story with an upset against WVU! BTW, the Match this past Saturday took about 7-1/2 hours to shoot so depending on how many travel....... ...long weekend. Anyway, in addition to the link, here is the press release. http://www.gozips.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_...TCLID=204811649**************************************************************************************PRESS RELEASEDate: October 10, 2009 Location: The University of AkrnEvent: Akron vs John Jay College of NY Gerevics leads sharpshooters to first home victoryFor the first home rifle match of the season the Akron hotshots lined up against the bloodhounds of John Jay College from New York. The contest landed the Zips a home victory with Akron out distancing John Jay 4527 to 4126.Smallbore rifle placed Akron in three of the top four slots. Junior Rebecca Gerevics was on fire as she led Akron with a 565 of a possible 600. Second and third went to Senior Josh Fabijance (562) and Sophomore Ryan Stein (560). Steve Zawislak of John Jay rounded out the top 4 firing a 560 and loosing the tie breaker to Stein. “We did ok today in smallbore, but today also indicates we have some work ahead of us in smallbore,” states coach Newt Engle.In the air rifle division Gerevics maintained her winning pace with an outstanding 581 out of a possible 600, earning her the top gun award. Right behind her, sophomore Sarah Benjamin (579) and Sophomore Jenna Compton (578) took the next two slots. Senior Josh Fabijance remained in the top 4 with a career best (574). “We continue to post some very impressive air rifle scores,” states Engle, “A little improvement in consistence and with just a couple of more points, and we will be right where we need to be.”Next weekend the Zips will compete in a rare double header. Saturday, Akron will travel to Morehead State University in Kentucky for the first Western Intercollegiate Rifle Conference match of the season. Then with a quick turn around, the Zips will act as host to the West Virginia University Mountaineers on Sunday the 18th. These are two tough matches for Akron as MSU has been posting some pretty impressive scores and WVU is the defending NCAA National champions.

[zippyrifle32]

if they want to go to the ncaa's as a team they need to start having 4 people consistently shoot 580's or better in both guns. There is a little more leeway with smallbore, but 560's smallbore and 570's air rifle isn't going to cut it. I would also put my money on tOSU beating Akron in the shoulder to shoulder. Since they have become fully funded, they've pulled in some real hot recruits, while recruiting is not Newt's strong point. He's gotten real lucky with what he has, but he doesn't aggressively go after the top prospects.

[Zipsrifle]

I will have to defer to your comments about the scores needed to make the Nationals as I have been out of it for a few years now.....580 it is! They are pretty close in Air. There are definately points there to get in SB however. People should be cleaning at least one prone target a match. For some reason, it's really hard shoot your first 100 in prone in a match, but once you do it, you expect it every time. Also, I am also baffled that we can have such good Air shooters but still post some average offhand scores. They are the exact same thing, except one has recoil! People have a tendency to counter the recoil, even if they don't think they are. You don't realize it until you get a dud and you dive off target. To work on this my last year, I would shoot a lot of air rifle and minimize the amount of Offhand I would shoot. That helped for about my first 12 shots and then my bad habits would come back. As for recruiting...that wasn't really done back when I started, though I think Newt started working on it a few years later.