North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State Travels to VMI Invitational
10/9/2003 12:00:00 AM | Rifle
Oct. 9, 2003
RALEIGH, N.C. - Wolfpack rifle will travel to Lexington, Va. on Oct. 11 for the VMI Invitational. NC State is coming off of another terrific team and individual performance, setting a school record for team score in two consecutive matches. Head coach Keith Miller, now in is 14th year, is using the strong individual performances of two freshman, a redshirt freshman and a junior to post a 6-1 record according to SEARC rules.
The NC State rifle team finished 26th nationally last year and and has been a consistent force near the top of the Southeastern Air Rifle Conference (SEARC). NC State finished second in the conference rank a year ago, but has all ready shot in the first two matches against league foes with record scores.
On Sept. 14, the Wolfpack defeated two squads from the Citadel and one from Wofford, posting a team score of 1,507, then a school record for NC State. Freshman Jennifer Marshall made a strong debut in the red and white, firing a team high 381. That mark would have tied for the top mark on the team all of last season. Two Wolfpack shooters top their career-high rifle marks, with junior Ryan Dorety firing a 377 and Christine Kimball shooting a 369. Other debut performances, and strong ones at that, included freshman Matthew Gifford's 375, and redshirt freshman Kirk Freeman's 374.
Records were made to be broken, and it only took one tournament to break the team record of 1,507 as NC State fired a 1,508 at the first conference match of the season. NC State defeated teams from Clemson, The Citadel, N. Ga, and Wofford in impressive fashion. Dorety, Gifford, Freeman, and junior Laura Ferrell top their career high marks in the match, with Dorety's 379 good for first place individually before the 100 point finals shoot-off. Marshall fired a 378, but recorded a 96-out-of-100 in the finals event to nudge Dorety by three points. Dorety fired a 92 in the finals to finish three back from Marshall.
After two matches, Marshall tops the team with a 379.5 air rifle average, while Dorety is not far behind with a 378 mark.Gifford is third at 375.5, while Freeman is fourth with a 374.5 mark.
