Senior Bill Harvey prepares to shoot in a match earlier this semester.
The No. 11 Racers (6-3, 2-1 OVC) bested their spring season opener winning score during a pair of losses.
Despite not earning the desired result when it traveled to West Point, N.Y., the rifle team came away with its best outings of the 2013-14 year.
The team did more than hold its own when taking on two of the nation’s best in No. 7 Army and No. 1 Kentucky.
“I was really pleased with the weekend,” Head Coach Alan Lollar said. “There are times when you start to look like you’ve come together as a team and I thought that was this weekend.”
The Racers posted their then best score of the season, 4,652, but it was not enough to top the Army Black Knights’ score of 4,668.
Sophomore Tessa Howald and senior Bill Harvey tied first on the squad and fourth overall in smallbore with a score of 579. Howald and Harvey also finished seventh and 10th overall in air rifle with 585 and 579, respectively.
Lollar said the key to their success was each person’s ability to focus on what they had to do to have a good start.
“I was really proud of the work they did,” he said. “They overcame some adversity during that match and finished solid in that match. Some people really started out well and they’re learning how to deal with the pressure. It’s not the easiest thing to look up (at the scoreboard) and see that you have the chance at a great score.”
Freshman Katarina Bisercic shot a 592 in air rifle, good enough for first on the team and second overall.
Junior Kelsey Emme finished close behind with a 588.
Meanwhile, Bisercic finished seventh overall in smallbore at 573, with Emme just outside the top 10 with a score of 564.
Senior Mikey Burzynski had a solid day in both disciplines, shooting 587 in air rifle and 569 in smallbore.
The team’s new high score lasted less than 24 hours as the Racers topped it the next day against the nation’s best team and in-state rival, the Kentucky Wildcats.
“One of the most important things is that we didn’t sit around and be satisfied after the first match,” Lollar said. “We came back after shooting our second best score of the year and followed it with our best score. I was really proud of them for that.”
The Racers were outshot 4,700 to 4,661 in the loss. Harvey led the Racers in smallbore at 579 and finished 13th in air rifle, shooting a 581.
Howald finished just behind in smallbore with a 578, and she earned a 590 in air rifle.
As the Racers head toward the OVC Championships and NCAA qualifying, Lollar said it is a great sign to see his team put together a solid stretch of matches like it has over the first two weeks of its spring schedule.
“Just like any time when you’re rolling down toward the end of the year and you’re coming up on your conference tournament and you have a chance to qualify for the NCAA’s, shooting well at the end is much better than shooting well at the beginning,” he said. “We want to build momentum, we want to be feeling good about ourselves coming down toward the end and I think we’re beginning to do that.”
Despite facing two top-10 teams, Lollar said the team did its best to put the rankings aside and focus on what they have been trained to do.
“Both of those teams are ranked above us and instead of trying to do something super human to necessarily catch them, we made sure to shoot our best when the opportunity presented itself and we did that this weekend,” he said.
Now, Murray State will host the Withrow Invitational Jan. 25 before traveling to Lexington, Ky., to face Morehead State and Nebraska Jan. 27 and Feb. 1.
Story by Nick Dolan, Assistant Sports Editor