The University of Akron Athletics
UA Rifle Aims For Excellence in 2009-10
October 02 | Rifle
With the onset of the 2009-10 season, Akron looks to build upon the many successes of last year's campaign, punctuated by sophomore Jenna Compton capturing the NCAA Individual Air Rifle National Championship. Doing so, Compton became the first athlete in program history and just second at Akron to capture a national title.
The UA rifle team embarks on the 2009-10 season this weekend, traveling to Annapolis, Md. to compete in the Mid Atlantic Conference Fall Fest. Akron is slated to take aim at several competitors most notably host and MAC rival Navy. The Zips will look to avenge their 2009 MAC Championship runner-up finish, which Navy delivered, firing a 14-point margin over UA. Head coach Newt Engle states, "This one of the earliest matches we have scheduled in a long time. However, the last four weeks of training have shown me that the team is ready to go head-to-head with a tough team like Navy."
In all the Zips will take on eight opponents at the two-day tournament. In addition to Navy, the Zips will stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of The US Coast Guard Academy, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, John Jay College, Penn State University, Virginia Military Institute, University of Sciences in Philadelphia and the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in a showdown which promises to preview the season.
Akron returns 10 shooters while welcoming an incoming class of five to the squad. Akron will look to leadership from its lone senior, Josh Fabijance while juniors Rebecca Gerevics and Brittany Jones will lend support as both experienced shooters and leaders. The sophomore class, including Compton, Allissa Martin, Luke Nelson, Ryan Stein and Zachary Szabo have a season of experience under their belts will make an immediate impact and continue to move the UA program in the right direction.
The incoming freshmen include Adam Auclair, David Brummond, Tristan Butler, Jim Carter and Nicole Dietrich who shouldn't be underestimated as Engle adds, "with our returning talent combined with the addition of some equally impressive freshmen, we are stacked with a group of athletes who can keep the team on track for a very successful season."
2008-09 Review:
The program finished the 2008-09 season on a high note as
Akron won it's fifth straight Western Intercollegiate Rifle
Conference Championship in the smallbore, also claiming the title
in the air rifle division. Over the course of the season, Akron
picked up victories at the Boilermaker Invitational, against John
Jay College and the University of Sciences in Philadelphia, over
Morehead State and the Rose Hulman Institute of Technology as well
as Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Akron finished second to
just Ohio State University, and Navy on the year, earning a third
place finish against the 2009 National Champions, West Virginia
University.
As far as accolades go, the Zips proved they were better than the rest, often out pacing the competition in several categories. Akron placed 10 athletes on the All-WIRC team, four athletes on the MAC All-Academic team as well as a league-leading six athletes on the MAC All-Rookie squad. Three Zips garnered recognition on the MAC All-Conference second team while two others garnered honorable mention.
2009-10 Schedule:
Following the MAC Open at Navy, UA will open the season on
the road at Morehead State University (10/17/09) before embarking
on trips to the annual Boilermaker Invitational hosted by Purdue
University (10/31/09), Virginia Military Institute (11/14/09) to
close out travel in 2009. The second portion of the season resumes
in January with the Zips traveling to Rose Hulman Institute of
Technology (1/16/10), the 10th annual Palmyra Invitational
(1/23/10), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1/30/10) before
closing out with a trip to The Ohio State University (2/7/10).
Akron will welcome the three teams to the shooting range in Shrank Hall on the UA campus, including the 2009 National Champion West Virginia Mountaineers (10/18/09), the University of Sciences in Pennsylvania/Rose Hulman Institute of Technology (11/7/09) as well as Ohio State (11/21/09).
The Zips will travel to Columbus Ohio for the second time in the season to compete in the NCAA Qualifier (2/13/10) before traveling to Michigan State for the Western Intercollegiate Conference Rifle Championships (2/20/10). The Mid Atlantic Rifle Conference Championship will be held at the US Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn. (3/6/10).
