Freshman Katarina Bisercic practices in the Pat Spurgen Rifle Range.
The rifle team is showing promise as it opens regular season matches.
The rifle team came into 2013 ranked No. 9 in the country by the Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association. The Racers posted a fourth-place finish in last year’s NCAA qualifiers.
This season, they have four new faces in freshmen Jack Berhorst, Katarina Bisercic, Sam Harris and Keri Marlin. The squad only lost one senior from last year’s roster.
So far, Racer rifle finished fourth at the Ole Miss Invitational and then scored 15 points behind UT Martin in its second match.
The squad was split in two groups of six, with each group traveling to a different match.
Head Coach Allan Lollar told Murray State Sports Information he is pleased with all of his shooters so far, and he split the team so he could gauge how they fared under match conditions.
At Ole Miss, the Racers finished with an aggregate score of 4,636. They shot 2,288 in smallbore and 2,348 in air rifle.
Berhorst led the way in smallbore with a 576, good enough for an 11th-place finish overall.
Senior Bill Harvey and junior Kelsey Emme followed with scores of 574 and 572, respectively.
Lollar said it was good to see the group’s potential to compete at a high level of play.
At UT Martin Monday, the Racers didn’t get the same results, but Lollar told Murray State Sports Information he was happy with his young shooters.
Murray finished with an aggregate score of 4,550, but fell just shy of UT?Martin’s score of 4,565.
The Racers won smallbore but lost in air rifle.
Freshman Keri Marlin led the way in smallbore with a 576, followed by junior Marisca Mozeleski at 570.
Burzynski was first for the Racers in air rifle, shooting a 578.
Rifle has a break before taking on Morehead State and Columbus State in its first tri-match of the year Oct. 20 at Pat Spurgen Rifle Range.
Staff Report