Murray State University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Rifle Team Featured In Fairbanks Newspaper
4/3/2015 2:55:00 PM | Rifle
The following article, reprinted by permission, was featured in the March 10, 2015 edition of the Fairbanks Daily-News Miner and was written by Tim O'Donnell.
For the first time since 2011, the Murray State (Kentucky) Racers will be shooting as a team when the NCAA Rifle Championships get underway on Friday at the E.F. Horton Rifle Range in the University of Alaska Fairbanks Patty Center.
The Racers, who hosted last season's championships, finished fifth at the 2011 championships in Columbus, Georgia, but haven't been back since as a team. Racers senior Kelsey Emme has competed as an individual twice at the national championships.
"It's always a goal to go back. We just missed it a couple of years and it's really exciting to get the team back in," Racers head coach Alan Lollar said during a telephone interview on Saturday morning.
The championships begin with the air rifle competition at 8 a.m. Friday at the E.F. Horton Rifle Range. The air rifle individual finals are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. The competition continues in the Patty Center gym Saturday with the smallbore event, beginning at 8 a.m. The smallbore individual finals are set to begin at 2:45 p.m.
While most of his roster has never shot in the NCAA Championships, Lollar doesn't expect his shooters to feel any pressure. The eighth-year head coach said his shooters have shot at USA Shooting events and at high school championships while in ROTC.
"One of the unique things about college is a lot of times it's the first time a shooter is not really shooting just for themselves. They're trying to do well for their teammates, who they trained and worked with all year," Lollar said. And sometimes that's the pressure that's the hardest to get rid of — not wanting to let their teammates down in that big situation.Â
"I'm hoping that them having individually been in those big situations before let's them handle the team concept a little better," Lollar added.
Emme shot at the 2012 and 2014 national championships as an individual. She finished 10th in air rifle in 2012. In 2014, the native of Piedmont, South Dakota, placed 26th in smallbore and 30th in air rifle.
Lollar said he is expecting some nerves from the Murray State shooters who will be making national-championship debuts.
"We don't talk about it as much as nervousness. We talk about it as the distractions of any match," Lollar said. "Trying to forgot about everybody else and just deal with what's happening between you and the target and doing it the same way that you do it everyday."
The Racers, ranked No. 8 in the Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association Poll, face a tough test as they search for their first national title since 1987. Along with the Racers, the field of teams for the national championships are all ranked in the top eight in the CRCA Poll.
No. 1 West Virginia leads the field as the Mountaineers are in search of their third straight title. The Alaska Nanooks enter ranked No. 2, followed by No. 3 Jacksonville State. Nebraska (No. 4), Kentucky (No. 5), Texas Christian (No. 6) and Air Force (No. 7) round out the team field.
"Anything can happen at the NCAAs and we know that," Mountaineers head coach Jon Hammond said by cellphone on Monday morning. "I think, not just Alaska but all the teams that are there are good quality teams. We know Alaska is capable of shooting some really good scores, but the other teams are as well."
The Mountaineers have won three of the last six nationals and are trying to become the first team to win three straight national titles since the Nanooks won three consecutive titles from 2006-08.
"We're treating this as another competition and another match," Hammond said.
"We just have to go up there and focus on ourselves. It doesn't matter whether it's the first, third or 17th, it's just another NCAAs," Hammond added.
The Mountaineers, who have 16 national titles in their history, are one of two teams in the championship field who shot against the Nanooks in Fairbanks this season. West Virginia split a pair of matches with Alaska on Jan. 31-Feb. 1 while the Nanooks beat Kentucky on Nov. 21.
West Virginia's loss of 4,706-4,705 to Alaska on Feb. 1 was the first time the Mountaineers had lost a match since February 2013. The Mountaineers had taken the opener a day earlier in the Patty Center a by a total outcome of 4,699-4,633.
Hammond believes that those matches in Fairbanks will benefit his team this weekend.
"The experience that we got from that I think will be really valuable. Being able to see the range, just kind of get a feel for everything," Hammond said. "For us as a staff it really helps our preparation. We know where everything is, we know where the hotel is, we know what we're doing, we're able to find things a little better.
"The benefit of being able to shoot on the range, get familiar with it, will definitely benefit us for going up a second time," Hammond added.
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For the first time since 2011, the Murray State (Kentucky) Racers will be shooting as a team when the NCAA Rifle Championships get underway on Friday at the E.F. Horton Rifle Range in the University of Alaska Fairbanks Patty Center.
The Racers, who hosted last season's championships, finished fifth at the 2011 championships in Columbus, Georgia, but haven't been back since as a team. Racers senior Kelsey Emme has competed as an individual twice at the national championships.
"It's always a goal to go back. We just missed it a couple of years and it's really exciting to get the team back in," Racers head coach Alan Lollar said during a telephone interview on Saturday morning.
The championships begin with the air rifle competition at 8 a.m. Friday at the E.F. Horton Rifle Range. The air rifle individual finals are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. The competition continues in the Patty Center gym Saturday with the smallbore event, beginning at 8 a.m. The smallbore individual finals are set to begin at 2:45 p.m.
While most of his roster has never shot in the NCAA Championships, Lollar doesn't expect his shooters to feel any pressure. The eighth-year head coach said his shooters have shot at USA Shooting events and at high school championships while in ROTC.
"One of the unique things about college is a lot of times it's the first time a shooter is not really shooting just for themselves. They're trying to do well for their teammates, who they trained and worked with all year," Lollar said. And sometimes that's the pressure that's the hardest to get rid of — not wanting to let their teammates down in that big situation.Â
"I'm hoping that them having individually been in those big situations before let's them handle the team concept a little better," Lollar added.
Emme shot at the 2012 and 2014 national championships as an individual. She finished 10th in air rifle in 2012. In 2014, the native of Piedmont, South Dakota, placed 26th in smallbore and 30th in air rifle.
Lollar said he is expecting some nerves from the Murray State shooters who will be making national-championship debuts.
"We don't talk about it as much as nervousness. We talk about it as the distractions of any match," Lollar said. "Trying to forgot about everybody else and just deal with what's happening between you and the target and doing it the same way that you do it everyday."
The Racers, ranked No. 8 in the Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association Poll, face a tough test as they search for their first national title since 1987. Along with the Racers, the field of teams for the national championships are all ranked in the top eight in the CRCA Poll.
No. 1 West Virginia leads the field as the Mountaineers are in search of their third straight title. The Alaska Nanooks enter ranked No. 2, followed by No. 3 Jacksonville State. Nebraska (No. 4), Kentucky (No. 5), Texas Christian (No. 6) and Air Force (No. 7) round out the team field.
"Anything can happen at the NCAAs and we know that," Mountaineers head coach Jon Hammond said by cellphone on Monday morning. "I think, not just Alaska but all the teams that are there are good quality teams. We know Alaska is capable of shooting some really good scores, but the other teams are as well."
The Mountaineers have won three of the last six nationals and are trying to become the first team to win three straight national titles since the Nanooks won three consecutive titles from 2006-08.
"We're treating this as another competition and another match," Hammond said.
"We just have to go up there and focus on ourselves. It doesn't matter whether it's the first, third or 17th, it's just another NCAAs," Hammond added.
The Mountaineers, who have 16 national titles in their history, are one of two teams in the championship field who shot against the Nanooks in Fairbanks this season. West Virginia split a pair of matches with Alaska on Jan. 31-Feb. 1 while the Nanooks beat Kentucky on Nov. 21.
West Virginia's loss of 4,706-4,705 to Alaska on Feb. 1 was the first time the Mountaineers had lost a match since February 2013. The Mountaineers had taken the opener a day earlier in the Patty Center a by a total outcome of 4,699-4,633.
Hammond believes that those matches in Fairbanks will benefit his team this weekend.
"The experience that we got from that I think will be really valuable. Being able to see the range, just kind of get a feel for everything," Hammond said. "For us as a staff it really helps our preparation. We know where everything is, we know where the hotel is, we know what we're doing, we're able to find things a little better.
"The benefit of being able to shoot on the range, get familiar with it, will definitely benefit us for going up a second time," Hammond added.
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