Gamecock Rifle Downs OVC Rival Murray State

Saturday, January 21

Oxford, Miss.

All Day

Jacksonville State University

4658

4631

Murray State

1/22/2012 6:07:00 PM | Rifle

OXFORD, Miss. – The Jacksonville State rifle team claimed a 4656-4631 decision over Ohio Valley Conference rival Murray State this weekend on the University of Mississippi campus in Oxford, Miss.

The 25-point win is Jax State's second in a row as they downed Columbus State last weekend in a dual match and the final aggregate score was a season best for JSU. The Gamecocks posted a 2349 in air rifle and tallied a 2307 in the smallbore portion of the match. The Racers were 15 points shy of JSU in air rifle with a mark of 2334, while they finished smallbore with a 2297.

Senior Andrea Dardas claimed the top spot in air rifle and shared smallbore honors with sophomore Sam Muegge. Dardas, a Essexville, Mich.-native, carded a 591 in air rifle, while she and Muegge shot a 580 in smallbore. MSU's top point-getter in air rifle was Bill Harvety's 578. JSU freshman Cole Tucker finished air rifle with a personal-best 586. Two other Gamecock freshmen shot a personal best in air rifle as Brent Books and Dan McCall registered a 580 and 579 respectively.

“Today's performance was a large step towards securing a bid to Nationals, being actually six points higher than what we shot at Nationals last year,” said head coach Ron Frost. “There's a lot more potential in this team and I truly believe that we will return with strong performances during the remaining matches.”

JSU returns to competition next weekend in Murray, Ky. as it participates in the Withrow Invitational on Jan. 28. It will serve as a tune up for the upcoming OVC Championships which will be held on Feb. 4-5 on the campus of UT Martin.