CHARLESTON, S.C. – Every form of competition offers a unique set of challenges and NCAA Division I rifle is no different. As The Citadel prepares to host the 2018 NCAA Rifle Championships in March, CitadelSports.com takes a look at what goes into a rifle match from the perspective of the cadet-athletes.

NCAA rifle competitions could most closely be compared to a round of golf where five individuals come together for a team score while taking on a host of unique challenges individually. Five athletes compete for each team with the top four scores counting towards the team aggregate score.

Each match is divided into two disciplines, smallbore and air rifle, and one individual shooter faces over three hours of competition with 120 opportunities, or 60 shots per discipline, to improve the team score. Typical matches can begin as early as 7:30 a.m. and end nearly 12 hours later. Sometimes, competitions take even longer or can be completed much faster depending on the number of teams and individuals shooting and the number of available shooting lanes.

Smallbore is always the first of the two disciplines and it features three shooting positions – kneeling, prone and standing, in that order – with each shooter taking 20 shots in each position for a total of 60 shots over the span of an hour and 45 minutes. The projectile is a .22 caliber and is fired using gunpowder.
 
Junior Allison Auten and freshman Max Brabston describe the process of shooting smallbore. Auten was named the SoCon Smallbore Shooter of the Month for the month of November while Brabston was named the SoCon Smallbore Shooter of the Month for the month of October.


How do you prepare for a match knowing it will be an all-day competition?
Auten – "I try to get the same amount of sleep I get during the week on days when I go to practice. So on Friday night, I try to get four or five hours of sleep because that's how much I get almost every day. If I can keep as much of my routine the same, then the only thing that is different is the people I'm shooting against. When I get to the range, I like to get a good conversation going and get some laughs in so I can relax my mind. It's really nice to be laughing and goofing off a bit and then go shoot. It just helps me relax both mentally and physically."

Brabston – "I typically try to sign up for an afternoon relay so I have time to sleep a little bit more because sleep is what affects me the most when it comes to shooting. A lot of shooters will keep track of what they eat and will eat the exact same meal before they go in, but I've noticed that doesn't really have an effect on how I shoot. What does is a lack of sleep, so I'll sign up for a 2 p.m. relay. When I get to the range, I will try to relax and listen to some music to calm my nerves down and put me in the right state of mind. Then, I go put my stuff together and I try not to think of it as a match, I just think of it as a big practice because if I start worrying about numbers and what the match results are going to be, then I get kind of worked up when I start shooting bad shots."


What sort of preparations go into just before you begin shooting?
Brabston – "I make sure I stretch when I go into kneeling because your knee is ready to go at the end of it. You put a lot of pressure on your knee, so I make sure to stretch out my legs a lot as well as my back because you're in a pretty contorted position and it's good to be stretched out. I also mentally prepare myself for the fact that it's going to hurt. I take a mental note of where my heart rate is at before I get started because you'll be able to feel your pulse in your knee and it can bounce around a bit. Once I get settled, I like to shoot a few more shots in sighters than the rest of the team. Coach typically says you should only shoot six or seven unless something is wrong, but I'll typically shoot 15 so I can get the jitters out. I'll get in a position and settle in before I shoot a few strings of shots and get into the mindset."


How do you deal with changing positions and the time limit?
Auten – "I'm the slowest person on the team when it comes to both guns. I shoot about the same speed when it comes to kneeling and prone, but when I get to standing, I tend to take more time. I've got it down to numbers now because if I start getting back into my suit with 50 minutes left, I can start setting my gun up to see if my position is correct with 45 minutes left. If I get it right, I can start practicing and see where I'm aiming, if I'm pulling anywhere, if I'm affecting the shot. If I can take around 5-10 shots for sighters, that takes about 5-10 minutes, sometimes a little more, then I have to make sure I'm ready to start shooting my record rounds with at least 20 minutes left. I give myself a minute per shot, that way if things are a little iffy on any of the shots, I can put the gun down, put it back up and just go."

Brabston – "What I'll typically do is I will try to go from kneeling to prone pretty quickly just because you already don't have feeling in your one hand and wrist so it's the perfect time to make the change because you won't be thinking about what's touching your hand, you just get on and go. Then I'll shoot anywhere between four and 10 shots in sighters and then I'll just roll through from there. After that point, I'll typically have well over an hour left in the match. I'll get those two done pretty quick and leave myself a lot of time for standing because that's where I have a lot of trouble in smallbore. I'll give myself a chance to relax a little bit, especially if I had a bad kneeling and prone, then I'll try to relax and get back into the right state of mind. When you get to standing you're just tired and mentally spent. It takes a minute to get the will back into it because you've already taken a lot of shots and it's been almost an hour of shooting and it kind of gets repetitive. This is where the sleep comes in because you just get tired and you just want to be done. I'll take a 20-minute break heading in."


Toughest thing for you during smallbore?
Auten – "For me, my left leg goes completely to sleep from hip to toes during kneeling. Standing up from that, looks really funny because you have to make sure your foot is completely planted before you put weight down. So, you have to look at your foot to make sure that it's there. Coming out of prone, my left arm goes completely to sleep from shoulder to hand because I have my sling really tight, I don't want it to go anywhere. Transitioning from prone to standing, I have to wait for my arm to wake up so I know where my arm is. In standing your knees, hips and back can start hurting if you're not distributing your weight properly. Mentally, staying focused throughout the whole thing is also tough. Your mind will wander. Maybe you ran too hard the day before and your legs are starting to stiffen up on you and you don't have the same range of motion and you have to compensate for that. Maybe you didn't stretch enough before you started shooting. There's always going to be something nagging at you when you shoot."

Brabston – "Probably finishing smallbore and then going into air because you've just gone through all of that and then you have another 60 shots and you're just exhausted. But you have to shoot another rifle and you have an hour break."


Many shooters have a competition notebook, similar to a playbook, do you have one and what is in it?
Auten – "I put in key thoughts from practice. What in this position helped and what should I be feeling, that sort of thing. If I find something that works, I want to be able to continue to do it during matches. But the biggest things I put in there are where things are on my gun. Where the butt of my stock is, where my hand stop is positioned, how tight my sling is, where does it sit on my arm, where the cheat piece is placed, where do I rest my head, things like that."

Brabston – "I'm kind of bad about not having a notebook. I get a lot of comments from my current and former coaches that I should do it, but it's just not something I've ever needed because I have always been able to keep track of where my settings are and what I do for a day and how things are supposed to feel. A lot of how I approach it is based on how it feels, so other people are a little more systematical when approaching it in that regard, but when I go from kneeling to prone and then to standing, I go off of how I know it's supposed to feel."


Shooters wear special suits,. What do they do for you in smallbore, particularly the jacket?
Auten – "A lot of times, they are custom made for a particular shooter and are designed to help steady you. There has to be a certain flexibility in your suit, otherwise it's too stiff and that could disqualify you because it's helping you too much. That's usually only a problem with new suits and you can work the material to loosen it up. When a jacket fits correctly, you can feel when you're starting to hunch your back and that helps in kneeling and standing. If you're hunching over too much, that hurts your score. The padding on the elbow (of the arm holding the gun up, typically the left), supports the weight of the gun for pretty much the whole match and if it starts to slip, you're going to lose everything. It's the same material as near the right arm pit. If the gun starts to wiggle around and slip, you can lose anywhere from one to five points. There is a little padding on the second elbow to help in prone and keep the right arm from slipping on the ground or mat you're shooting on and helps keep you stable. The strap on the back helps restrict the material and keeps it out of the way. It can also help hold your shoulder back. There's also a patch of padding where the butt of the stock rests and eventually you develop spots that are smoother than the rest of the material. I shot so much last year that I broke it down and you wear a groove into the padding. That can be nice there because it helps keep the butt of the gun right there in the same spot every time. It helps you tuck the stock in tight."


What are the differences in ranges you have experienced and what do you like more?
Brabston – "I love more open ranges. The more space I have, the less constricted you feel, the better. I've been on terrible ranges where you're practically on top of the other person and you're accidentally kicking the people next to you because as you switch positions, you don't have the room. At the Naval Academy, their range is really confined. During my junior Olympic qualifier last year, I lost focus because somebody accidentally kicked me during one of my shots, I missed the target and I didn't qualify. I love having space and it seems to always work out better for me when I have the extra room to either side."


The Citadel will host the 2018 SoCon Rifle Championships on March 3-4, 2018 inside the Inouye Marksmanship Center as well as the 2018 NCAA Rifle Championships on 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.