The rifle team continues to leave its mark with solid performances throughout the season.Led by a corps of freshmen, the Horned Frogs beat the Air Force Falcons last weekend by a final score of 4,648 to 4,541.
“Lauren (Sullivan) really carried the team Saturday,” head coach Karen Monez said. “Her 586 smallbore score tied a TCU record, and her 592 air rifle score was one point below the record.”
Sullivan, a freshman shooter, helped lead the team against the Falcons, but she said the two-day competition was draining on the shooters.
“We weren’t ready enough for the two-day match,” Sullivan said. “We’ll probably shoot more shots at practice.”
The team hits the road this weekend to face the UTEP Miners on Saturday and freshman Simone Riford is confident in how the team will perform.
“We’ll be good at UTEP,” Riford said. “Away matches are good; we are more focused on the road.”
Endurance was a factor during the two-day shooting match, but Monez said it was good for the team.
“It is a lot of shooting for two days, but in the long run it will be a positive experience,” Monez said.
With the NRA Sectionals match on the horizon, the Frogs will be preparing to vie for a position in the NCAA Nationals. The team used the weekend to improve its overall performance in preparation for sectionals, Monez said.
“The more matches you shoot, the more opportunities we have to improve our average score before the sectionals,” Monez said.
The weekend rifle contest had the Frogs raise their season aggregate score by seven points from 4,632 to 4,639.
Despite raising their aggregate score, improvements in match performance still need to be made before the sectionals.
“We will work out the kinks from our different firing positions,” freshman shooter Erin Lorenzen said.
Monez said the key will be to correct some of the weaknesses in technique before the next match.
“We will identify their weakest position and focus on correcting that,” Monez said.
The UTEP match set for Saturday will also bring a different type of target into play for the team.
“We’ll have to transition back to paper targets this week, rather than the electronic ones that will be used at sectionals,” Monez said.
