Nebraska Set to Defend Great America Rifle Conference Title

The undefeated Nebraska rifle is set to defend its Great America Rifle Conference title this weekend on the Ole Miss campus in Oxford, Miss.  The match will be held on Saturday, Feb. 25 and Sunday, Feb. 26, and will showcase a number of top teams, including 2006 NCAA Championship contenders Army, Kentucky, Nebraska and Ole Miss.  Also competing are GARC member programs Memphis and West Virginia.

 

This is the second consecutive year that the Rebels have played host to the tournament, where in 2005 the Huskers claimed their first team title.  A first-year member of the GARC after seven years of independent status, Nebraska shocked the small conference with an easy victory over some of the nation’s best, including Army, which would go on to win the NCAA Championships less than a month later.

 

This season, Nebraska returns to Mississippi with the conference’s highest average and aiming to shoot its best while also working toward defending its conference title.  A win this weekend could also be the confidence catalyst the fourth-ranked Huskers need before heading into the NCAA Championships on March 10 and 11, where they hope to coral the program’s first NCAA team title.

 

Individually, several Nebraska shooters are looking to notch event titles this weekend.  Most notably, senior Misty Chanek will look to end her collegiate career on a high note and is a potential contender on either smallbore or air rifle, both of which have been consistently strong events for the Texas native in 2006.  Also, junior Kristina Fehlings will look to extend her impressive season and once again make her mark on the GARC after being named its Shooter of the Year in 2005.     

 

 

Scouting the Great America Rifle Conference

Kentucky Wildcats

Head Coach:  Harry Mullins

Top Shooter: Amy Sowash

Record: 8-4

2005 GARC Finish: Third

The Kentucky Wildcats come into the GARC Championships on a high note after posting a score of 4,679 at the NCAA Qualifier to emerge as the nation’s No. 3 team.

 

In 2006, the Wildcats have averaged a team score of 4,671 to an 8-4 dual record.

 

Behind the efforts of sophomore Amy Sowash, Kentucky looks to emerge as a major player this postseason and push into either the No. 1 or No. 2 spot at the GARC Championships after finishing third in 2005.  However, in order to do that Kentucky will have to pass up Army and Nebraska, two programs that topped the Wildcats during dual competition this season.  At Nebraska on Nov. 19, Kentucky marked a solid score of 4,653 to NU’s 4,661, making the match the closest for the Huskers all season.

 

Army Black Knights

Head Coach:  Major Ron Wigger

Top Shooter: Chris Abalo

Record: 7-2

2005 GARC Finish: Second

The Army Black Knights continued to build on their reputation as one of top rifle programs in the nation this season by going 7-2 during the regular season and shooting a school record mark of 4,693 at the NCAA Qualifier.  The score propelled Army past the Huskers in the national rankings despite the fact that Nebraska sports a higher season average and beat the Black Knights in dual competition.

 

Leading Army this season is sophomore Chris Abalo.  With just one year of collegiate rifle behind him, Abalo has already emerged as one of the top competitors in the country.  With career-high scores of 594 in both smallbore and air rifle, it is no wonder why the Army Athletic Association has named Abalo its “Athlete of the Week” an astounding four times in just two years.  Abalo already has plenty of postseason experience as he led the Black Knights to their first-ever national title in 2005.  Abalo garnered a pair of fourth-place finishes in the smallbore and air rifle and was named the GARC “Rookie of the Year.”

 

Ole Miss Rebels

Head Coach:  Valerie Booth

Top Shooter: Shannon Wilson

Record: 4-4

2005 GARC Finish: Fifth

This year’s host of the GARC Championships, the Rebels will have the benefit of shooting on a familiar range.  However, Ole Miss has struggled both at home and on the road this season, Ole Miss has just two dual wins coming over West Virginia and N.C.State.  But Ole Miss has faced a grueling regular-season schedule that included duals against Nebraska, Kentucky, and Alaska-Fairbanks back-to-back with Army.  But the Rebels are hoping that the stiff competition will breed success this weekend as Head Coach Valerie Booth and the Rebels, led by sophomore Shannon Wilson, strive to improve on their fifth-place GARC finish in 2005.   

 

Memphis Tigers

Head Coach:  Butch Woolbright

Top Shooter: Krissey Bahnsen

Record: 7-3

2005 GARC Finish: Fourth

The busy atmosphere of the GARC Championships will be nothing new for the Memphis Tigers, who have the majority of their 2006 season competing in multi-team events like the Tiger Open and Winthrow Invitational.  The Tigers are averaging a team score around 4,600 thanks in large part to the efforts of sophomore Krissey Bahnsen.

 

West Virginia

Head Coach:  Marsha Beasley

Top Shooter: Brian Launer

Record: 4-7

2005 GARC Finish: Seventh

After nearly slipping out of the Great America Rifle Conference two years ago, the Mountaineers maintained their conference status and return this season hoping to improve on a seventh-place 2005 GARC finish.

A historic tradition in the rifle world, West Virginia has won more NCAA team titles than any other collegiate program with 13 in the last 25 years.  However, the Mountaineers have struggled since the turn of the century with their last championship taking place in 1998. 

 

 

Huskers Qualify for NCAA’

After an undefeated season, the Huskers earned their third consecutive invitation to compete at the NCAA Championships on March 10-11.  Nebraska is the fourth of eight teams slated to compete at the event with Alaska-Fairbanks qualifying first followed by Army and Kentucky.  The four remaining teams are MurrayState, Navy, JacksonvilleState and Mississippi.

 

Qualification for the event is based on a combination of factors, including a three-score regular-season average added to the score from the NCAA Qualifier with a resulting median qualifying mark. The Huskers boasted an outstanding 4,678.7 during the regular-season, behind only Alaska-Fairbanks, but failed to notch quite as solid a mark at the NCAA Qualifier (4,666), which resulted in a fourth-place NCAA berth.

 

Four of the eight teams headed to the NCAA Championships represent the staunch competition of the Great America Rifle Conference, including NU, Army, Mississippi and Kentucky.  All three of these programs also compete this weekend for a shot at a GARC Championship.

 

 

Defending the GARC

Nebraska’s first year as part of the Great America Rifle Conference could not have gone any better in 2004-05.  The Huskers emerged from independent status to post a 10-1 dual record and went on to win the GARC Championships last season over such national powers as Army and Kentucky.  In addition, Nebraska’s Kristina Fehlings was named the GARC Shooter of the Year. 

 

Now in its second year under the GARC wing, Nebraska will return to the Ole Miss campus to defend its title against a field of talented programs that includes Army, Kentucky, Memphis, Ole Miss and West Virginia.  While the Huskers are busy defending their team title, several individuals will vie for event titles in the smallbore and air rifle with senior Misty Chanek and Fehlings leading the pack.

 

Additionally, Nebraska head coach Launi Meili will undoubtedly be up for consideration as the GARC Coach of the Year, as she is the only undefeated coach in the conference.

 

 

Seeing Double

Senior team captain Misty Chanek has taken consistency to a new level.  In fact, when looking at her season statistics one might think they are seeing double.  Not only are her average scores in smallbore and air rifle impressive, they are identical.  Over the course of Nebraska’s ten matches this season, Chanek has mounted an average smallbore score of 586.10 and after her performance at the NCAA Qualifier, improved her air rifle average to an identical 586.10.        

 

While this statistic may seem like an interesting coincidence, it is in fact a perfect representation of Chanek’s talent.  Not only can she shoot well in both disciplines, but she does so in every match no matter the conditions.  Her steady performance this season has earned Chanek nine match-high scores and helped the Huskers to an undefeated regular season.

 

 

Coming on Strong

For junior Stacy Underwood and sophomore Katie Harrington, it’s never too late in the season to improve.  In fact, at the NRA Sectional on Feb. 9 and the NCAA Qualifier on Feb. 11, the pair made marked strides, Underwood in smallbore and Harrington in air rifle.

 

After shooting a smallbore average of 575.71 prior to those two matches, Underwood notched a score of 584 at the sectional and 581 at the Qualifier to increase her season average by nearly two points to 577.22.  Underwood’s score of 584 was also a career high.

 

Going in to the NRA Sectional, Harrington had yet to notch a score above 575 in air rifle all season.  However, the sophomore from New Richmond, Wis., shot a career-high shattering score of 584 at the sectional and increased her season average from 570.67 to 572.375.

 

While Underwood and Harrington made the most drastic improvements, several other Huskers shot season-high scores as well including Kristina Fehlings in smallbore (591) and Kim Chrostowski in air rifle (589).

 

 

No Boys Allowed

Not only are the fourth-ranked Huskers one of the NCAA’s smallest teams with just seven active members, they are also the only program to qualify for the NCAA Championships made up entirely of women.  In fact, the Huskers are also one of only two teams in the Great America Rifle Conference without a male competitor, the other being Ole Miss.

 

In a sport typically dominated by men, most of the nation’s top teams are co-ed.  But Nebraska has taken a different route with an all-female team and a female head coach in Launi Meili and has achieved monumental success for it. 

 

Of the other five teams slated to compete at the NCAA Championships, each is at least 58 percent male and contain between 10 and 12 shooters per squad.  The nation’s top three teams, Alaska-Fairbanks, Army and Kentucky are 91, 84 and 70 percent male, respectively.

 

 

Underwood Earns AR Spot  

Due to her outstanding air rifle performance late in the season, junior Stacy Underwood earned a position on Nebraska’s air rifle team heading in to the GARC Championships this weekend.  Underwood has competed as an individual in the discipline for the entire season and will now earn her first opportunity to make a difference in NU’s team score.

 

Underwood’s performance at the NRA Sectional and NCAA Qualifier where she marked solid scores of 583 and 581 bumped her into team contention.  That could change though following the conference competition as Head Coach Launi Meili constructs her final teams for the NCAA Championships.  In fact, team places in both disciplines, are essentially up in the air for nationals as Meili evaluates how to present the strongest possible combination.