North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
SEARC Championships
Cross Wins Individual Crown as Pack Finishes Second at SEARC
2/20/2011 12:00:00 AM | Rifle
Feb. 20, 2011
ANNISTON,ALA. --- Bryan Cross earned individual champion honors, but NC State rifle finished second at the 2011 SEARC Championships Saturday by, what turned out to be, the closest margin in conference history.
The Pack posted a season-high air rifle score of 2,299 to lead the match. Eventual champion The Citadel finished second with a 2,283. The total brought NC State’s season average up to 2,273.4, which came up agonizingly short of The Citadel’s 2,274.6 which claimed the SEARC title.
NC State was attempting to win an unprecedented fifth-straight SEARC title, but finishes second to The Citadel, who notched its third-ever championship.
The 1.2 point difference between the top two teams correlates to just six points out of a possible 12,000 over the five matches used to compute the average, and represents the closest SEARC finish ever.
Cross and teammate Mark Nations each fired personal bests with Cross posting a 581 and Nations firing a 570.
Individually, William Teller and Cross made the SEARC All-Conference team, which is composed of the top eight shooters based on their individual averages. Freshman Madeleine Pike just missed this honor, finishing with the ninth-highest average in the league.
Immediately following the match, the top eight individuals fired in a finals event to determine the individual league champion. Teller and Cross were ranked #1 and #2, respectively.
As the shots were fired and announced, the lead went back and forth, with Cross edging out Teller in the end to claim the title of league champion.
Cross led all shooters in posting an SEARC record 102.0 in the finals. Following Cross and Teller in the individual rankings were Tori Kostecki of North Georgia College, Stephen Kinn of The Citadel, Stephen Bryant of Wofford, Winston Dorian of The Citadel, Matt Parsons of North Georgia College, and Julia McCullohs of The Citadel.
Following the SEARC Championships, the Pack turns its attention to the GARC Championships on February 26-27 in Oxford, Miss.
