Rifle

Huskers Open Season with Victory

Annapolis, Md. - The Nebraska women's rifle team opened their season Saturday in winning fashion, by claiming the overall match title at the Great Eight Rifle Match hosted by the U.S. Naval Academy. The Huskers won the overall match title with 6,157 points, just eight points shy of a school record.

Nebraska, which finished third at the NCAA Championships last year, shot against Xavier, Norwich and Navy. Xavier was the runner-up at nationals last season, while Norwich finished fourth and Navy fifth.

The Huskers used a school-record score of 1,559 to win the air rifle competition. Nebraska's previous best of 1,557 came on Feb. 13, 2000, in a shoulder-to-shoulder match with Ohio State. Xavier finished second with a score of 1,543, followed by Navy (1,539) and Norwich (1,512).

Led by junior Terim Richards, who shot a 394, the Huskers had three shooters score 390 or better. Richards' score tied her with Xavier's Thrine Kane for first place. Sophomores Amanda Trujillo and Nicole Allaire both shot a 390, while freshman Melissa Downsbrough, who hails from Bellefonte, Pa., shot a 385 to round out the scoring for Nebraska.

In the smallbore competition, Nebraska was edged by Navy, which shot a 4,602 to the Huskers' 4,598. Xavier finished third (4,588), followed by Norwich (4,522).

Trujillo, a Brush, Colo., native, earned a runner-up finish in the individual competition, firing a 1,162. Downsbrough took fifth with a 1,152, while Allaire finished 12th (1,144). Freshman Heather Pissos from Wheeling, W.V., rounded out the scoring with a 1,140 to earn a 15th-place finish. Xavier's Joseph Fitzgibbon shot a 1,171 to claim the title.

Several Huskers also competed as individuals. Freshman Karen Aspden finished 25th in air rifle with a 369 and 20th in smallbore (1,128). Lincoln native Rachel Spiry shot a 387 in air rifle to finish seventh, while her score of 1,131 in smallbore put her in 20th place. In the individual air rifle competition, Pissos fired a 376 to finish 22nd overall.

The Huskers will travel to Lexington, Va., for a shoulder-to-shoulder match with the Virginia Military Academy on Sunday.