CHARLESTON, S.C. – The 20
th-ranked Citadel rifle team will close out the fall portion of the 2017-18 campaign this weekend with a home match against No. 11 North Carolina State, 22
nd-ranked Georgia Southern and Clemson's club team inside the Inouye Marksmanship Center.
"We want to finish up the semester on a high note," said head coach
William Smith. "I'm hoping that we will carry over our good practice scores into the weekend. Our cadet-athletes just need to go out and treat each shot like it's a match of its own and things will take care of themselves. As has been the case all season, we're going up against some very confident and capable shooters, so we just have to focus on ourselves and making sure we do our best."
11
th-ranked N.C. State most recently hosted No. 10 Akron on Saturday, Oct. 21. The Wolfpack took the head-to-head 4656-4642. The Pack has been led this season by Lauren Phillips, Kendra Jacobs and Zach Eisenberg. Following the match in Charleston, N.C. State will conclude its Fall at home against No. 21 North Georgia.
22
nd-ranked Georgia Southern last competed on Saturday, Nov. 4, at UAB. The Eagles took the match with an aggregate team score of 4558 over UAB (4489) and Georgia Military (3595). Rosemary Kramer has led the Eagles this season followed by Lily Wade and Courtney Weekley. Saturday will mark the fall finale for the Eagles as well.
Last week, freshman cadet-athlete
Max Brabston was named the Southern Conference (SoCon) Smallbore Shooter of the Month for the month of October. A freshman from Fairfax, Va., Brabston started off the month of October by shooting one point off his personal best in smallbore in a tri-match with second-ranked TCU and 15
th-ranked Jacksonville State. His 572 smallbore score that week ranked 12
th in the match and was the 40
th-best score in the nation that week.
He followed that up with a pair of 570 smallbore scores on Saturday, Oct. 21, and Saturday, Oct. 28. In both matches, his score earned him a third-place finish in the match while the score of 570 was good enough for 47
th-best in the nation for the week of Oct. 28.
In the Bulldogs' most recent match, senior
Colton Poole shot the 37
th-best smallbore score in the nation on Saturday, posting a 572 while junior
Allison Auten posted the 52
nd-best aggregate score in the nation over the weekend with a personal season-best 1146. She was also 46
th in the nation with a 582 in air rifle while posting a season-best 564 in smallbore.
Sophomore
Alexander McAlear posted the 58
th-best score in the nation on Saturday with a 566.
The Citadel will host the 2018 SoCon Rifle Championships March 3-4, 2018 inside the Inouye Marksmanship Center as well as the 2018 NCAA Rifle Championships March 8-10, 2018 inside McAlister Field House. The NCAA rifle championships will mark the third national championship competition hosted at The Citadel and first since Johnson Hagood Stadium was the site of the 1983 and 1984 Division I-AA football national championship games.
For more information on The Citadel rifle team, follow @CitadelOlympic on Twitter or visit CitadelSports.com.