The University of Akron Athletics
Ohio State Downs Akron Rifle
November 03 | Rifle
The University of Akron Rifle team traveled to Columbus, Ohio to
face off against Ohio State University for the second time in as
many weeks. In their last meeting, the Zips finished ahead of OSU
at the Boilermaker invitational (4536-4524). Unfortunately, UA
could not repeat that performance as the Buckeyes topped the Zips,
4625 to 4565. According to OSU coach Pat Cherry, the Buckeyes fired
a new school record with the score.
In the smallbore division, OSU's Gina Cheliras fired an impressive
591 to earn the top gun award. Akron freshman Joel
Nuzum and OSU's Jed Neidigh tied for second place with 576
forcing a tiebreaker which Neidigh would win to claim second place.
Joel Nuzum landed in third for the Zips while UA
freshman Zachary Szabo finished in fourth with 571
points.
Head coach Newt Engle added that, "This was our best
smallbore match of the season. We worked very hard the past two
weeks and it appears to be paying off."
Ohio State claimed the top 4 spots in the air rifle division.
Nicholas Novello earned the top spot for OSU with 588 points.
Following Novello were fellow Buckeyes James Clark, Neidigh and
Cheliras who all shot 579. Sophomore Rebecca
Gerevics led the Zips with a fifth place finish scoring 578
points out of 600 possible. UA freshman Ryan
Stein followed in sixth place with 576 points while sophomore
Robert Belko and freshman Jenna
Compton both finished with 575 points in 7th and 8th place
respectively. Senior Megan Reinking posted a 9th place finish
for the Zips firing 573 in the division.
As Akron continues to make strides and improvements in the air
rifle division coach Engle noted that, "I'm very impressed with the
fact that 10 members of our young Zips squad managed to fire air
rifle scores in the 570's. With just a little more work and
improvement, we will be on track to achieve the goal of 2320 with
the air rifle."
The UA rifle team returns to action this weekend on November 8th as
they travel to Philadelphia, PA to compete against two firing
squads. The Zips will face off against John Jay College and host,
the University of Sciences in Philadelphia.
