Story by Gage Johnson
Sports Editor
gjohnson17@murraystate.edu
Story by Keenan Hall
Staff writer
khall16@murraystate.edu
The Racer rifle team will make their 33rd appearance in the NCAA Rifle Championships on March 8-9 in hopes of winning its first national title since 1987.
What’s ahead:
Murray State earned the fifth seed out of eight teams selected to make the trip to Morgantown, West Virginia. This is the fifth- straight season that the Racers will look to hoist the National Championship trophy when the last shots have been fired.
This team is no stranger to the NCAA’s biggest stage, as seniors MacKenzie Martin, Barbara Schläpfer, Alathea Sellars and Eric Sloan are the fifth class in program history that have won an OVC title every year as a Racer. The senior class is led by Martin and Schläpfer, who will make their fourth-consecutive appearance in the NCAA Championships.
The field of play:
Murray State will be facing off against the defending champion University of Kentucky, host-team West Virginia University, Air Force, Navy, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Army West Point and No. 1-seed Texas Christian University.
In both smallbore three-position and air rifle events, the top eight teams were selected based on the average of the three highest regular-season aggregate scores, with no more than one match at any given site. The aggregate scores from the designated qualifiers then had the average of the three highest scores added to it to place the top eight teams.
TCU’s placement as the top seed in the tournament is rightfully earned, as it has three players (senior Rachel Garner, junior Casey Lutz and sophomore Elizabeth Marsh) in the top 10 in average aggregate scores in the NCAA. As a team, the Horned Frogs are second in average aggregate scores in the NCAA.
Martin and Schläpfer place in the top ten in average aggregate scores in the NCAA for the Racers, while senior Ginny Thrasher and junior Morgan Phillips represent the Mountaineers in the aforementioned category. No other team in the field of eight has more than one in the top ten.
Along with the rest of its shooters, Phillips and Thrasher helped West Virginia earn the highest average aggregate scores as a team.
The Racers’ gameplan:
At the beginning of the 2018-2019 season, Head Coach Alan Lollar and his shooters had a plan for the year. They’ve executed their plan and achieved their end goal.
“We had very few stated goals; one of those was to play on the last day of the season,” Lollar said. “Anybody that plays on the last day of the season has a chance to win the championship. We will get our chance to line up and see if it’s our day or not.”
While the senior class has had strong showings in past postseasons, it is imperative for the Racers to have all ten shooters ready to go by March. Lollar says the emotional aspect for the shooters will be crucial.
“I don’t use it [the word ‘mental’] as much as I do emotional,” Lollar said. “It has a lot to do with being able to forget the last repetition and executing the next repetition exactly the way that you want to do it. How you handle your emotions and when you drop those points has everything to do with winning a championship.”
With rifle being such an individual sport, Lollar says it’s key for people to focus on their way of shooting and being able to focus step-by-step how to take their shot.
“We work with focusing, we work with our breathing; it becomes very individual to the athlete,” Lollar said. “Everybody has their own way of doing it, but mostly it’s coming back to a centered place where they can focus on what they have to do in the next 30 seconds. What’s the next thing I have to do to execute my shot? Then before long that shot is over with, and your breathing again and going into your next shot.”
With a tough group of teams awaiting the Racers in West Virginia, Lollar says reaching their potential is most crucial.
“There are eight great teams in this field,” Lollar said. “We’re one of those. We have every bit enough potential to win, but everybody else does too. It’s about you doing your thing. I think a quote that’s attributed to John Wooden a lot says, ‘Success is actually reaching your potential.’ Whether you win or lose, it’s doing all you can do.”
When things are all said and done, Lollar believes in his team and expects that they’ll deliver the best performance possible.
“We would like to end the thing and not say ‘What if?’” Lollar said. “If we can do that, I think we’ve done everything that we can do. I know they’ll do the best they can do. They’re the most amazing group of young people I’ve ever been around. They work harder, they’ve sacrificed more; I just hope that it’s our day to hit our one-timer and see what happens.”
How they got here:
Murray State rifle knocked off the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on Sunday in its annual NCAA qualifier match.
The Racers won with a score of 4671 points versus the Huskers 4661 points. Murray State senior MacKenzie Martin led the way in smallbore with 586 points. Another senior Barbara Schläpfer followed her classmate with 585 points.
The other score counters in smallbore for Murray State were juniors Meike Drewell, Shelby Huber and senior Althea Sellars. Drewell finished third in smallbore seizing 576 points. Huber claimed 571 points while Sellars scored 569.
“Barbara and Kenzie were solid as usual,” Lollar said. “The mark of good leaders is to lift the team up when it is down, and I thought they both did exactly that today.”
In air rifle, it was a big day for freshmen Anna Scheer and Emily Fitzgerald. Scheer tied her career-high with 591 points in her first NCAA qualifier. Fitzgerald scored 576 in smallbore, a 590 in air rifle and 1166 aggregate. All three scores were career highs for the freshman.
“We also got really nice performances out of Emily and Anna,” Lollar said. “They are two freshmen who will continue to get better and will be an important part of our team over the next three years.”
Schläpfer led the way in air rifle with a 593, and Martin scored around her season average with 588 points. Racer seniors Eric Sloan and Sellars both shot a 586.
“I also can’t say enough about Eric, who, for the second match in a row, was called on and delivered a performance that was well above his average and something we needed at that moment,” Lollar said. “This, by any means, was not our best performance, but I thought some people really stepped up when we needed them.”
When and where:
The NCAA Rifle Championships will begin at 8:45 a.m. Friday, March 8-9, at the West Virginia University Coliseum in Morgantown, West Virginia.