CHARLESTON, S.C. – The 21^st-ranked Citadel rifle team will host the final regular-season home matches of the season this weekend as the ninth-ranked Air Force Academy and 24^th-ranked VMI will be in town. The Bulldogs, Falcons and Keydets will compete in a tri-match on Saturday, Jan. 27. The following day, The Citadel will face off against the Air Force Academy.

"This weekend will be a great way to close out our home regular-season matches," said head coach William Smith. "Whenever you can have multiple senior military institutions competing against each other, it's a fun and different environment. We'll also be paying close attention to our head-to-head matchup against VMI as bragging rights will be on the line again in our rivalry, and that just adds an extra wrinkle into Saturday."

Earlier this season, the Bulldogs opened up their Southern Conference slate by defeating VMI 4552-4472 on the road. The win over the Keydets allowed the Bulldogs to claim VMI's range flag while holding on to their own. The two military institutions have developed a friendly rivalry in rifle over the years that sees the winning team of their matches holding on to the other's range flag during the regular season. The VMI flag currently hangs in Coach Smith's office and the winner of Saturday's match will hold on to the other's flag until next season.

The Air Force has been led this season by Anna Weilbacher, Spencer Brandon and Sarah Sawicki. Weilbacher boasts six of the Falcons' 10 best aggregate scores on the year, including an 1174 and an 1171. Most recently, the Falcons finished fourth in a match hosted by second-ranked TCU. The Horned Frogs claimed the win over No. 6 Ohio State, 23^rd-ranked Coast Guard and Air Force.

VMI has been led this season by Samantha Alexander, Nick Reynolds and William Davidson. Alexander boasts five of the Keydets' best scores on the year, with her best aggregate score of 1131 coming back on Oct. 7, 2017. Most recently, VMI defeated Wofford 4426-4320 in Spartanburg, South Carolina, on Dec. 2, 2017. The Keydets were led by Alexander's aggregate score of 1104, which placed her third overall.

The Bulldogs last competed on Saturday, Jan. 20 in a tri-match between Georgia Southern and Wofford in Statesboro, Georgia. The Bulldogs claimed the match with an aggregate score of 4509. Freshman Max Brabston led the way with an 1137 aggregate score. Brabston took top marks in both aggregate and smallbore, shooting 563 to start the day before posting a 574 in air rifle.

Junior Allison Auten was second on the co-ed team and third overall with an 1135 aggregate score. Auten finished third in smallbore with a 556 and second in air rifle with a 579.

Rounding out the scoring for the co-ed team were Alexander McAlear and Colton Poole. McAlear finished fifth overall with an 1125 aggregate score while Poole posted the sixth-best aggregate score of the day with an 1112. McAlear was second in smallbore with a 559 and sixth in air rifle with a 566. Poole finished fifth in smallbore with a 555 and finished eighth in air rifle with a 557.

The women's team finished the match with an aggregate score of 4181. Carli Cline posted the best aggregate score for the women with a 1088, including 536 in smallbore and 552 in air rifle. Shay Littlejohn was second on the team with a 1054 aggregate score (521 smallbore, 533 air rifle) and Lauren Pringle shot a 1046 made up of a 503 in smallbore and 543 in air rifle. Tierra Price was the final shooter for the Bulldog women with a 993 aggregate (485 smallbore, 508 air rifle).

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The Bulldogs will close out the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 3 at Wofford. The Bulldogs and Terriers will also take on UAB in a SoCon match. Two weeks later, the Bulldogs will host an NCAA Qualifying match on Saturday, Feb. 17 and Sunday, Feb. 18.

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.