Young Huskers Eager for Shot at NCAA Title

Head coach Ashley MacAllister begins her third year at the helm of the Nebraska rifle team in 2016-17. She is joined by assistant coach Rick Johnson who has one year at Nebraska under his belt. The duo led the Nebraska rifle team to its fourth consecutive top-eight finish in 2015-16 and looks to tie the school record for most consecutive trips to the NCAA Championships (five) this season.

“I believe that with the team we have, taking into account other teams, that we can be top six in the country [in 2016-17],” MacAllister said. “We have the potiential to do a lot of great things... and I hope that we exceed all expectations.”

The Husker squad consists of only two seniors in Jaycee Carter and Rachel Martin. The pair has signifcant collegiate experience and will be looked to for leadership both on and off the range by a team with nine underclassmen and a junior transfer.

“Jaycee and Rachel [were] wonderful leaders to the underclassmen last year, and I expect that this will continue,” MacAllister said. “They are important to this team not only on the range, but most importantly cultivating an environment where everyone will be successful.”

Carter and Martin have each appeared more than 40 times in their first three years as Huskers in both smallbore and air rifle. Martin, the 2015 smallbore national champion is a seven-time All-American, while Carter earned an All-America award in 2015 in air rifle. Both Carter and Martin have competed for the Huskers at the NCAA Championships. Off the range, the duo has been stellar examples for the team. Carter and Martin are each two-time Academic All-Big Ten picks, have earned spots on the Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll each semester at Nebraska and have been named to the Tom Osborne Citizenship Team for three consecutive years.

Joining the seniors as returners this season are five sophomores. Katie Brown, Jordan Miller, Nina Radulovic, Hannah Virga and Rachel Yager all saw some action last year as freshmen but will play a much bigger role in 2016-17 after Nebraska lost four seniors from last season.
“We lost four seniors this past year [and] we have relied on all of these girls at some point in time,” MacAllister said. “It is next to impossible to replace one of these four girls but we have to keep moving forward in hopes that working hard to get better will be enough for now. It will be very hard to replace Denise [Martin’s] scores, but I have confidence that the returning team members will work to get better on the range. If our team can focus on pushing forward with their scores then we won’t need to replace [Martin], we [will be] able to make the whole team better.”

Radulovic has the most experience of the sophomores. The Belgrade, Serbia, native competed in every match for the Huskers as a freshman in both smallbore and air rifle. She fired career highs of 592 (air rifle) and 584 (smallbore).

Virga saw the second-most action as a freshman behind Radulovic, appearing 12 times in smallbore and 13 times in air rifle. The Chandler, Ariz., native broke the school record for highest air rifle score (597) ever shot by a freshman and looks to compete for a spot in both disciplines.

Miller earned some time on the range in her debut season, appearing six times in air rifle and seven times in smallbore. Miller tallied career-highs in of 567 and 588 in smallbore and air rifle, respectively.

Yager and Brown saw limited action as freshmen, but are eagar to make contributions this year. The pair appeared a combined total of eight times in smallbore and nine times in air rifle in 2015-16. Brown scored career-best scores of 556 in smallbore and 575 in air rifle. Yager notched high scores of 559 in smallbore and 579 in air rifle.

The seven returners are joined by five newcomers, including four freshmen and one transfer. Dacotah Faught (Amenia, N.D.) comes to Nebraska from the University of Tennessee at Martin, where she earned NRA All-America honors as a sophomore. Kayla Gadeken (Seward, Neb.), Maddie Korthas (Belgrade, Mont.), Samantha Peterson (Ham Lake, Minn.) and Sarah Sutton (Oak Harbor, Ohio) are part of the incoming freshman class. The group will have the opportunity to make a significant impact on the team in their first year.

“All of these girls are bringing a lot of experience to the table,” MacAllister said. “Dacotah is coming to us from UT Martin where she was an All-American. Not only does she excel athletically, but she is an exceptional person who embodies everything we are looking for here a Nebraska. Dacotah is going to bring experience to a team that is relatively young. “Kayla is a local girl who I expect will be able to help us in both air rifle an smallbore this year. I look forward to seeing Sarah grow throughout this next year. She is a strong air rifle shooter and will be a great addition to Rachel Martin and Jaycee Carter. I think [Samantha] is going to have the most impact right away in smallbore. She has had recent success in smallbore and is exactly what we need for next year. Maddie [comes from a club with] a rich tradition of rifle shooters, and I expect Maddie to be one of those. Maddie is hard worker, and I expect her to improve throughout her years at Nebraska.”

This talented team will take aim at some of the top teams in the country throughout the 2016-17 season.

The Huskers open the season on Oct. 15 in Oxford, Miss., with a conference matchup against Ole Miss.

NU returns home and takes a week off before its home opener against Ohio State at the NU Rifle Range on Oct. 29.

Then the Huskers head to Lexington, Ky., for a pair of matches on Nov. 5 (Akron) and Nov. 6 (Kentucky).

On Nov. 12 and 13, the Big Red will host the University of Texas at El Paso for the final matches of the fall semester.

The team will then take more than two months off before resuming competition.

NU opens the spring semester with five conference opponents, starting with Army West Point on Jan. 15 in New York. The following day, on Jan. 16, Nebraska faces NC State at West Point, N.Y.
The Huskers continue a series of away matches in Morgantown, W. Va. On Jan. 21, the team will face off against defending national champion West Virginia, followed by a meeting with Navy on Jan. 22.

Nebraska will conclude its away matches with a trip to Memphis, Tenn., on Jan. 28, to take on the Memphis Tigers.

MacAllister, Johnson and the Huskers close the regular season at home on Feb. 2 against Alaska.

On Feb. 19, the team takes a shot at a fifth consecutive NCAA Championship appearance when it competes at the NCAA Qualifiers in Murray, Ky.

On Feb. 24-26, NU fights for the conference title at the GARC Championships.

The NCAA Championships are set for March 10-11 in Columbus, Ohio.