Murray State University Athletics
Rifle Opens Season At Tennessee-Martin
9/28/2006 5:00:00 AM | Rifle
The Murray State rifle team opens its 2006-07 season under first-year coach Morgan Hicks on Saturday at Tennessee-Martin. The shoulder-to-shoulder (dual) match begins at 8 a.m. in Martin, Tenn.
The Racers -- which beat 80 percent of its opponents last season -- return eight shooters from last year's team, which placed fifth at the NCAA Championships. Among the returnees are All-Americans Cameron Hicks, a junior from Roy, Wash., and sophomore Bryant Wallizer of Little Orleans, Md.
"We've already shown improvement over last year's scores in our practices this week," said Coach Hicks. "I believe we are prepared for this match. I think we've been wanting to shoot a match. We're to the point where we're tired of shooting against ourselves, so I think we will be more motivated and have some serious drive to shoot against another school.
"This is a good match start the season. It's an Ohio Valley Conference school, so it will be great to see how we stand against an OVC opponent, and it starts a series of competitions we have coming up."
Following its Saturday match at Tennessee-Martin, Murray State takes part in the Ole Miss Invitational on Oct. 7, then shoots in the Tiger Open at Memphis on Oct. 8. A shoulder-to-shoulder match at Austin Peay follows on Oct. 14, then the Racers return for their first home match on Oct. 15 against Tennessee Tech.
Also returning to the Racer lineup this season are senior Brandy Boucherie of Henderson, Ky.; juniors Dan Belluzzo of Chisholm, Minn., and Josiah Brooks of Creston, Wash.; and sophomores Erica Meece of Eubank, Ky., Joe Shane of Poplar Bluff, Mo., and Kevin Witbrodt of Sunset Hills, Mo.
Joining the squad for their first seasons are freshmen Harley Jette of Puyallup, Wash., and Kasey Meyer of Quincy, Ill.
"We lost only one senior last year," said Coach Hicks, "so we basically have the same team we had last year. Air rifle was our weak point last season, so we will be watching that and trying to improve on those scores. We have a couple of shooters who do well in air rifle, but we don't have four solid, consistent shooters in air rifle."
Murray State has participated in the selective NCAA Championships in every year since its inception in 1980 except for one. The Racers won national titles in 1978, 1985 and 1987.
