The University of Akron Athletics
Akron Rifle Wins Fifth Straight WIRC Championship
March 02 | Rifle
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The University of Akron picked up its fifth consecutive Western Intercollegiate Rifle Conference Championship at Purdue University this weekend. Akron fired a 3775 on the day en route to claiming the victory while Morehead State University trailed in second with 3738 and The Ohio State University finished third with a team mark of 3736.
The All-WIRC teams were announced with Akron garnering an
impressive 10 athletes. Freshman Ryan
Stein represented Akron on the Smallbore first team while Jenna
Compton was recognized as the lone shooter on the All-WIRC air
rifle first team. Zachary Szabo, Jenna
Compton, Sarah Benjamin and Megan
Reinking were all named to the All-WIRC smallbore second team.
Finally, Brittany Jones, Ryan
Stein, Rebecca Gerevics and Megan Reinking were second
team All-WIRC air rifle honorees.
An extremely close match opened with the smallbore division and
ended with the Zips finishing ahead of the competition. Akron's
team score of 2239, bested both Morehead State (2230) and Ohio
State (2228) who were also on hand for the championship.
Behind a career-best performance from sophomore Brittany
Jones, Akron extended its lead in the air rifle contest. The
Zips fired a season-high and school-best team mark of 1536, beating
the previous score of 1535 set in 2002. Morehead State and Ohio
State would fire like scores of 1508, resulting in a tie-breaker
which MSU would win, edging Ohio State into third place. Jones, who
fired a career-high 391 earned top gun honors also tying the school
record held by Angela Engle set in 2002. Following Jones was
freshman Jenna Compton who fired a season-best mark of
390. Compton was selected to represent Akron in the NCAA air rifle
competition following her performance at the qualifier two weeks
ago.
Head coach Newt Engle stated, "Every coach dreams of having
a team peak at exactly the right moment. The real exciting thing is
we fired great at this match and I am certain this is just the
beginning of what this team can do."
The Akron squad garnered national recognition this past Wednesday
as the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs issued
invitations to select athletes to compete in the National Junior
Olympic Rifle Championships held at the Olympic Training Center in
April. A team-high five members garnered invites, including
freshmen Sarah Benjamin, Jenna
Compton, Luke Nelson, Joel
Nuzum and Zachary Szabo.
The Akron rifle team shoots back into action on Saturday, March 7
as they travel to Annapolis, Md. to compete in the Mid Atlantic
Rifle Conference Championships. The Zips are set to square off
against MAC foe Navy for the second time this season.
