North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
VMI Invitational
Another Win in Air Rifle Highlights Trip to VMI Invitational
10/14/2003 12:00:00 AM | Rifle
Oct. 14, 2003
NC State finished third overall but first in air rifle at the VMI Invitational on Oct. 11. The Wolfpack notched another win in air rifle with a strong performance, topping the 1,500 mark for the third time in three matches this year. Last year, NC State reached that plateau only once, firing a 1,501 against Penn State and VMI on Feb. 8. Jennifer Marshall, Matthew Gifford, Kirk Freeman, and Ryan Dorety comprised the scoring squad to total a match-high 1,502. The Wolfpack finished third overall and in smallbore, posting scores of 5,842 and 4,340, respectively.
Marshall, a freshman from Cary, N.C., led NC State in air rifle for the second time this year, firing a career-high tying 381. Dorety fired a 377, Freeman a 376, and Gifford a 368 to comprise the rest of the scoring squad.
"Overall, this match unfolded as we expected," coach Keith Miller remarked. "Akron and Duquesne are both top-20 programs who are very strong in smallbore. We won the air rifle part of the match, but finished third in smallbore. As a team, we have had very limited practice in smallbore due to our lack of a on-campus range, something that both Akron and Duquesne have at their disposal."
Teri Steinkopff (1,081) and Dorety (1,087) each posted career-high scores in smallbore as five of the six shooters set or topped their high for smallbore. Matthew Gifford led the team with a 1,103, though he was not on the scoring squad.
"Several of our shooters only had one or two practices in smallbore before this match, so it was hard to gauge who would shoot the best," Miller said. "Because of this, it was hard to pick a first team scoring squad and we ended up picking the wrong first team.
"We left Matthew Gifford off of the scoring first team because he just picked up smallbore this summer after exclusively shooting air rifle in high school. I was very surprised by how well he did, and it just goes to show how strong of a shooter he is."
Freeman (1,096), Marshall (1,098) and John Maroglio (1,059) joined Dorety on the scoring squad as the Wolfpack totalled 4,340.
"I was very pleased with our air rifle performance, and we have some room to improve in smallbore, even though we fired a competitive match with two strong programs in smallbore," Miller said. "If we had shot this match at the end of the year, I think we would have completely different results in our favor."
TEAM SCORES OVERALL Team Air SB Total Duquesne 1,486 4,496 5,982 Akron 1,491 4,482 5,973 NCSU 1,502 4,340 5,842 VMI 1,378 4,209 5,587 VMI 2 N/A 3,969 N/AAIR RIFLE Marshall 381* Dorety 377* Freeman 376* Gifford 368* Steinkopff 368 Maroglio 362 Ferrell 358
SMALLBORE Gifford 1,103 Marshall 1,098* Freeman 1,096* Dorety 1,087* Steinkopff 1,081 Maroglio 1,059*
