The No. 8 Nebraska rifle team finished second out of three teams at its NCAA Qualifier match on Saturday morning. NU shot an aggregate score of 4,703, while No. 10 Ohio State shot a 4,710 to place first and No. 12 Akron shot a 4,689 to finish third.
Today’s score will make up half of the team’s qualifying score and will be combined with the Huskers’ best three scores from separate locations – 4,728 (at Air Force, 10/15/23), 4,722 (vs. West Virginia, 10/29/23) and 4,720 (at UTEP, 1/27/24).
Four-time All-American Cecelia Ossi placed first overall with an aggregate score of 1,188. Sophomore Emma Rhode earned a third-place finish with a 1,182 aggregate total.
Rhode shot a 596 in the air rifle to finish in first place, while Ossi placed third with a 595. The Big Red shot a 2,362 as a team.
Ossi, the defending smallbore national champion, placed first in the event with a 593, which ties the second-highest score in school history. Rhode finished fifth with a 586, and junior Mackenzie Strauch was sixth, also with a 586. The tiebreaker was determined by the number of 10-point shots by each athlete. NU scored a 2,341 in the smallbore to tie the fifth-highest score in program history.
The NCAA Rifle Selection Show will air at 5 p.m. (CT) on Monday, Feb. 19. The championships will take place on March 9-10 in Lexington, Kentucky.