Jump to content

Zips Rifle loses heartbreaker to OSU


Zipsrifle

Recommended Posts

What a tough loss for the rifle team. :wall::cry: They lost to the Buckeyes by 3 points. That is just amazingly close when the there are 4800 possible points. On top of that, Akron shot it's best scores of the season! I don't know what happened to OSU from the Purdue match, but their score went up over 100 points, that's HUGE. The Zips have been pretty steady throughout the season and would be undefeated at this point if they had been able to squeak out just 4 more points in each of their two losses. :wall:

My condolences to Coach. The Zips actually had enough points to beat OSU, just like Xavier, but again, not all the high scores were on the same team. Look at it this way, Coach basically has a 2nd team that is nearly as good as the first team. No matter how hard he analyzes the scores and tries to get a feel for who's hot, and who's not, it is just nearly impossible to predict which 4 shooters will put up the high scores that day. Oh, yea, there is no such thing as substitutions either.

The team came VERY close to the magical 2300 in each discipline, which as I've mentioned before is a good indication that this team is in contention for a spot at the National Championship match. Lets hope this team continues to improve and focuses on "The one shot match". Lets push those comfort levels up a bit!

Oh How I Hate OHIO STATE!

PRESS RELEASE

OSU shoots ahead of Akron Rifle

For the second time this season, the Zips rifle team fell victim to a match decision in the “unbelievably close†category. In Olympic rifle, the teams compete for up to 4,800 points. When teams finish within 10 points of each other it is considered very close. Less than 10 points is rare. Three weeks ago the Zips opened the season with a 2 point loss to Xavier University. After falling to the Zips at the Boilermaker Invitational two weeks ago, OSU came to Akron this weekend focused on getting even. When the last target was scored, OSU did get even but only by a mere 3 points, firing a 4579 to Akron’s 4576. Despite the loss, this was the best match of the young Zips season. “We performed well in both disciplines,†states coach Newt Engle, “I am pleased we continue to keep getting better with each match.†However, both the Gold and the Blue Akron squads finished ahead of John Jay College from New York (4095).

In smallbore Akron fired the high match of the season thanks to the effort of athletes like Julie DeBrita (580 out of a possible 600) who fired in the 580’s for the second week in a row. DeBrita’s performance included the ever elusive perfect 200 prone and tied the school standing record which she set only one week ago. “Julie has been on fire at practice, and now she is proving herself at the matches,†states coach Engle. Junior Christine Fortunato also fired a perfect 200 prone and teammate Ben Soehnlen fired yet another personal best at 559.

Freshman Melissa Lussier continues with her winning ways by leading the Zips with a very nice 579 air rifle. A total of 5 Zips had air rifle scores in the 570’s with Sophomore April Engle (573) and Ben Soehnlen (552), both setting a new personal best marks. Coach Engle states, “We are extremely lucky to have such a wealth of talent.†The Zips combined efforts set a new season high match score (2290).

Akron will host the last home match of the semester this coming weekend against The University of the Sciences in Philadelphia (USP). The match will start at 8:30 am at the marksmanship training facility located in Rooms 1 and 7, in Schrank Hall South.

Smallbore Rifle Scores: *Gold team, ** Blue team

580*--Julie DeBrita--Perfect 200 prone, Standing total ties school record

575*--Melissa Lussier

570*--Stephanie Elmore

570**--Christine Fortunato--Ties Personal Best, Perfect 200 prone

561*--Megan Reinking

559**--Ben Soehnlen--New Personal Best

554**--Laura Kuntz

552--April Engle

546--Cody Shields

536**--Michael Tokarz

2286 Akron “Gold†Smallbore Team Total Season High Score

2219 Akron “Blue†Smallbore Team Total

==============================================================

Air Rifle Individual Scores: *Gold team, ** Blue team

579*-- Melissa Lussier

574**--Christine Fortunato

573**--April Engle--New Personal Best

572*--Michael Tokarz

571*--Julie DeBrita

568*--Megan Reinking

566**--Laura Kuntz

565**--Stephanie Elmore

552--Ben Soehnlen--New Personal Best

535--Cody Shields

2290 Akron “Gold†Air Rifle Team Total Season High Score

2278 Akron “Blue†Air Rifle Team Total

==============================================================

Team Results: Smallbore Air Rifle Total

#1 The Ohio State University 2287 2292 4579

#2 The University of Akron "Gold" 2286 2290 4576

#3 The University of Akron "Blue" 2219 2278 4497

#4 John Jay College 2016 2079 4095

Newt Notes:

Thanks to Sandy Kuntz for the lunch spread. It was wonderful.

It was nice to see Andrew and Sherry Tokarz who drove in from WVA to support son Michael.

Cody Shields was able to fire in his first ever collegiate match and was supported by his father Jerry.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...