Experienced Huskers Take Aim at NCAA Championship

Head coach Ashley Rose-MacAllister returns from an impressive debut at Nebraska, leading the NU rifle team to a fourth-place finish at the 2015 NCAA Championships and producing an individual smallbore championship from Rachel Martin.  The Huskers  finished with an overall record of 17-10 that included a regular-season mark of 7-5.  
    Rose-MacAllister will be joined this year by assistant coach Rick Johnson, who spend four years at Army West Point, prior to coming to Nebraska.  Johnson is eager to start making an immediate impact at Nebraska.
    “I feel that I bring a good mix of technical skills and mental skills to help the team,” Johnson said.  “I enjoy working one-on-one with the athletes. Since starting with the team this season I’ve already seen some improvements with the athletes. I’m excited about this team and can’t wait for the competitions to start.”
    Nebraska brings back six shooters from last season who are all upperclassmen.  Denise Martin, Rachel Martin, Jaycee Carter, Marissa Major and Alexandrea Lorentz all have at least two years of collegiate experience, and four of the six have NCAA Championship experience as well.
    “We have a strong leadership coming back from last year,” Rose-MacAllister said. “I know with this leadership we will be headed in the right direction for this next year. [Our] fourth-place finish [in 2015] has given us the momentum to push forward. We know that everyday we are on the range striving to get better. We will continue to focus on the process and not the outcome, for when we get our process down the reward will be what we are looking for.”
    The team welcomes five newcomers to the team: Katie Brown, Rachel Yager, Hanna Virga, Nina Radulovic and Jordan Miller.
    With such a successful 2014-15 season  and claiming an individual championship,  Rose-MacAllister and Johnson expect nothing less for this upcoming season.
    Denise Martin, a returning two-time All-American, is one of four seniors who will help lead this Nebraska team.  Martin  has the most championship experience on the team.  She competed at the 2013, 2014 and 2015 NCAA Championships  and finished third as a sophomore at the 2014 NCAA Championships in smallbore.  
    Senior Magdalena Mical also has championship experience, competing at the 2015 NCAAs. As a junior, Mical tied her personal-best score in air rifle with a 589 and continued to shine in the classroom, earning academic All-Big Ten honors for the second consecutive year.
    Marissa Major shattered both of her personal bests as a junior. In air rifle, she tallied a 584 and in smallbore she scored a 575.   In the classroom, she  earned academic All-Big Ten honors in 2015 and was named to the Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll in both the fall 2014 and spring 2015 semesters. The senior from Colorado looks for continued success this season both on and off the range.
    Alexandrea Lorentz brings a competitive spark, which helped her succeed in 2014-15. The senior from Alaska recorded career-best scores in both smallbore (584) and air rifle  (586) last season.  Lorentz was also recognized for her efforts off the range.  She was named to the Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll in both semesters, was named a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and earned the GARC Nebraska Scholar Athlete Award. She looks to build upon her achievements from last year.
    Rachel Martin, one of the nation’s top shooters, brought home the NCAA individual smallbore title as a sophomore.  She earned All-America awards from the CRCA and the NRA.   In the classroom, Martin excelled as well, earning academic All-Big Ten and being named to the Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll for the fall and spring semesters in 2014-15.  After her success last year, Martin hopes to help the team return to nationals again in 2016.
    NRA All-American Honorable Mention, Jaycee Carter built on her strong start at Nebraska and earned herself a spot to compete with the team at the 2015 NCAA Championships, where NU finished fourth. As a sophomore, she tied her personal-best air rifle score of 593. Off the range, she earned academic All-Big Ten honors and was named to the Tom Osborne Citizenship Team, as well as the Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll. Carter looks to become one of Nebraska’s top shooters this year and will be looked to for leadership both on and off the range.
    This experienced bunch is joined by a group of talented freshman, including Katie Brown (Fort Scott, Kan.), Jordan Miller (Springfield, Va.), Nina Radulovic (Belgrade, Serbia), Hannah Virga (Chandler, Ariz.) and Rachel Yager (Bozeman, Mont.)  This talented Nebraska team will take aim at the top teams in the nation throughout the 2015-16 season.  
    Rose-MacAllister and Johnson open the season when the Huskers when the Big Red travels to Colorado to battle Air Force (Oct. 10) and West Virginia (Oct. 11).
     Nebraska has a bye week to prepare for TCU and Memphis in Fort Worth, Texas on Oct. 24 and Oct. 25 respectively.  
    The Huskers continue  their series of  road matches the next weekend, traveling to South Carolina to compete against NC State (Oct. 31) and Army West Point (Nov. 1).
    After a week off, the Big Red return home for the only two home matches of the season.  The Huskers host Kentucky on Nov. 14 and Akron on Nov. 21 at the NU Rifle Range in Lincoln.
    After the conclusion of the first semester and the holiday break, the Huskers return to action Jan. 23 by traveling to Murray, Ky., to take on Rose-MacAllister’s alma mater, Murray State.
    Nebraska travels to Columbus, Ohio the following weekend to compete against Ohio State.   
    The Huskers will conclude the regular season on the weekend of Feb. 13-14, when the team travels to Annapolis, Md. to take on Ole Miss and Navy.
    The Big Red begin postseason action on Feb. 20 with the NCAA Qualifiers in Murray, Ky.