COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee Tech looks to break the streak of
five consecutive Ohio Valley Conference rifle championships by the
Jacksonville State Gamecocks this weekend at the 2010 OVC Rifle
Championships competition.
The two-day event, which takes place Saturday and Sunday, will be
held on the campus of Murray State University. Along with the
Golden Eagles, teams from Jacksonville State, Morehead State,
Murrray State and UT Martin will compete for the championship.
Last weekend,Tech fired a 4,479 team total in a match against Ole
Miss, an event that included two season-high marks by Golden Eagle
shooters in air rifle. Johnathan Zimmerer shot 568 which was not
only his season-best, but also a career-high for the junior from
Lindsay, Texas. With that score, Zimmerer also recorded his
season-best aggregate total of 1,116 after posting a 548 iin
smallbore.
Senior Jessica McCauley from Hannibal, Mo., had the team's other
season-high in air rifle, posting a 573 during her time on the Tech
range. Tech's top score of the day in air was a 580 by Austin
Litherland, a junior from St. Francisville, La. Curtis Gagne was
Tech's fourth in the discipline, firing a 565.
In smallbore, Gagne, a senior from Clearwater, Fla., posted a 557
for Tech's top score. Litherland was just two points back at 555,
followed by Zimmerer at 548 and Patrick Stidham with a 533.
Jacksonville State will try to make it six straight at this
year's OVC Championship. The event will be held at the Pat Spurgin
Rifle Range at Murray State.
Last year on the Tech range, the JSU Gamecocks won both the
smallbore and air rifle portions to win the title with an overall
score of 4,628. UT Martin mixed finished tied for second with
Morehead State with a score of 4,515, followed by Murray State
(4,513), Tennessee Tech (4,489) and UTM women (4,362). Jax State
went on to finish third at the NCAA National Rifle Championship,
while taking the smallbore national title. JSU returns to its team
2009 Smallbore National Champion Brian Carstensen, also the OVC
Freshman of the Year and OVC Smallbore Athlete of the Year.
The OVC Championship will start at 9 a.m. each day, with the
smallbore competition taking place on Saturday and air rifle on
Sunday.
Results will be available on www.ovcsports.com after the
completion of each day's events.
2010 Ohio Valley Conference Rifle Championship
Schedule
Saturday, February 6 - Smallbore Competition
9:00 a.m. - Relay 1
12:00 a.m. - Relay 2
Sunday, February 7 - Air Rifle Competition
9:00 a.m. - Relay 1
11:45 a.m. - Relay 2
ALL TIMES CENTRAL
Information for this story was provided by The Oracle (Leah
Meffert, writer)
and the Ohio Valley Conference Office