Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
NCAA Championships
Emme Wraps up NCAA Championships, Bisercic All-American
3/14/2014 6:46:00 PM | Rifle
Kelsey Emme, Murray State's representative in the NCAA Rifle Championships, completed her weekend 26th in the smallbore and 30th in the air rifle. Emme fired a 577 and 584 respectively.
"I was happy with the way that I shot," said Emme. "I had a couple of bad shots, but felt good overall. It's such a great experience to perform with this level of competition."
Emme competed in her second NCAA Championships in three years at Murray State, qualifying for the air rifle her freshman year in 2012.
Emme was one of only two individuals who qualified in both guns at the championships along with eight teams and six other individuals.
"I thought Kelsey had a really great day today," said head coach Alan Lollar. "I'm really proud of the match she had. She competed well on the biggest stage and that's what we strive for"
For the air rifle portion, the competitors shot in front of a live crowd of over 200 people in the main arena of the CFSB Center. This is the ninth time Murray State has hosted the NCAA Rifle Championships and the first time either portion was held in the CFSB Center.
"I thought the match went well," said Lollar. "Our goal is for the athletes to feel special and like they are in the National Championship. I think we accomplished that."
West Virginia successfully defended their team title, winning for the 16th time in their history. The Mountaineers shot a record score 4705, 28 points ahead of second place Alaska. Kentucky finished in third place followed by Memphis, Nebraska, TCU, Jacksonville State and Army.
WVU won both the smallbore with a score of 2338 and air rifle shooting 2367.
Tim Sherry of Alaska came out on top in the individual smallbore competition. Sherry shot a 452.1 in the finals, just one half point better than Garrett Spurgeon of West Virginia (451.6).
First place in the individual air rifle competition went to Connor Davis of Kentucky. Davis shot a 205.4 in the finals, four tenths of a point higher than Maren Prediger of WVU, who finished in second place. Â
Following the championship, the NCAA All-American awards were announced. Murray State's Katarina Bisercic was named to the Air Rifle Second Team.
"Katy had a good year and deserves her All-American status. She has been a pleasure to coach this year. Her work ethic and commitment are top notch," said Lollar
Emme was named to the All-American Air Rifle team in 2013. The Racers have now had an All-American named in 16 of the past 17 seasons.
For the season, Bisercic averaged a 589.1 in the discipline and shot a high mark of 593 on three different occasions.
