RESULTS

LEXINGTON, Va. – The Citadel co-ed rifle team opened up its Southern Conference (SoCon) schedule Saturday with a win on the road at VMI. The Keydet co-ed team finished second to the Bulldogs with the VMI women's team finishing third and the Bulldogs' women wrapping up the day fourth.

Bulldogs from the co-ed team claimed the top four individual spots and five of the top six on Saturday and came together for a 4552 aggregate score made up of a 2241 in smallbore and 2311 in air rifle. The aggregate score was just two points shy of the program record set on the second day of last weekend's NCAA Test Match held in McAlister Field House against six nationally-ranked teams. The women's team finished the competition with a 4109 in their first action of the season.

"I'm very proud of the way both teams competed today," said head coach William Smith. "Any time you can open the SoCon schedule with a victory, it's a good day. After opening the season with two solid performances last weekend, and after what I saw from our cadet-athletes this week in practice, I was hopeful that we would continue to perform well and they did just that. There's always room for improvement, but I felt like we did very well today."

VMI's co-ed team finished the day with a 4472 aggregate score while the Keydet women's team finished with a 4382.

The win over the Keydets by the co-ed squad was made even sweeter by the fact that the Bulldogs got to keep their range flag as well as leave Lexington with VMI's flag. The two military institutions have developed a friendly rivalry in rifle over the years that includes the winning team holding onto the other's flag should they win a match over the other school during the regular season. Bragging rights and the flags will be back on the line when the two face off in a tri-match with nationally-ranked Air Force on Saturday, Jan. 27.

The Citadel co-ed team was led by freshman Max Brabston's 1149. Brabston, who had a very solid collegiate debut last weekend, took top honors overall after finishing third in smallbore with a 564 and first in air rifle with a 585. Sophomore Alexander McAlear finished second overall with an 1134 (556 smallbore, 578 air rifle) and junior Allison Auten wrapped up the competition third with an 1126 (553 smallbore, 573 air rifle). Senior Colton Poole ended the day fourth with an 1124 (568 smallbore, 556 air rifle) and took home top honors in smallbore. Morgan Long closed out the scoring for The Citadel with an 1106 (531 smallbore , 575 air rifle).

For the Bulldog women's team, senior Carli Cline led the way with a 1083 (529 smallbore, 554 air rifle) and finished 14^th in the air rifle discipline. Junior Shay Littlejohn was second on the team with a 1076 (524 smallbore, 552 air rifle) while junior Lauren Pringle and sophomore Tierra Price rounded out the scoring with a 1019 (482 smallbore, 537 air rifle) and a 931 (417 smallbore, 514 air rifle) respectively.

The Citadel will next host second-ranked TCU and No. 15 Jacksonville State on Saturday, Oct. 7, in a tri-match held inside the Inouye Marksmanship Center.

For more information on The Citadel rifle team, follow @CitadelOlympic on Twitter or visit CitadelSports.com.