SKYHAWK RIFLE SHOWS IMPROVEMENT, DEPTH IN TRI-MATCH AGAINST OVC FOES MURRAY STATE, JACKSONVILLE STATE

Sunday, October 6

Murray, Ky.

UT Martin

Jacksonville State/Murray State

SKYHAWK RIFLE SHOWS IMPROVEMENT, DEPTH IN TRI-MATCH AGAINST OVC FOES MURRAY STATE, JACKSONVILLE STATE

10/7/2019 1:13:00 PM | Rifle

Results

MURRAY, Ky. – It was a good day for the University of Tennessee at Martin rifle team on Sunday, as the Skyhawks went toe-to-toe with Ohio Valley Conference rivals Murray State and Jacksonville State at the Pat Spurgin Rifle Range.

UT Martin improved its season-opening score by two points, tallying 4,593 points (2,272 smallbore, 2,321 air rifle). Murray State posted a score of 4,652 while Jacksonville State managed 4,640 points.

Overall, the Skyhawks were led by Kaitlin Korinek as the senior led the entire field in the air rifle standings with a score of 592, ending her relay with a perfect 100. The Irwin, Pa. native also shared the team lead with a smallbore total of 574 points for an aggregate of 1,166 – ranking third in the overall standings behind only Murray State's Meike Drewell (1,169) and Dana Buesseler (1,168).

UT Martin's air rifle scoring lineup included Korinek (592), Jennifer Plocinik (career-high-tying 584), Rachel Sprague (578), Abigail Donald (567) and Rachel Mills (559). The Skyhawks also received solid performances out of Celia Gelpey (567), Nick Fares (566), Tristan Grisham (551), Kalen Royal (551) and Amanda Mayo (544) in the air gun.

In smallbore, Sprague equaled Korinek for a team-high score of 574. They were joined in the UT Martin lineup by Plocinik's 569, Royal's career-best 555 and Grisham's 554. Fares chipped in a 556 while Gelpey (554), Donald (552), Mills (512) and Mayo (511) also represented the Skyhawks.

Plocinik was UT Martin's second-best aggregate scorer as she compiled 1,153 points. Trailing not too far behind was Sprague's 1,152 while Fares put together a terrific collegiate debut with 1,122 points. Gelpey earned a score of 1,121 points to round out the Skyhawks' top five while Donald (1,119), Royal (1,106), Grisham (1,105), Mills (1,071) and Mayo (1,055) followed.

"We had several positive takeaways from this match," UT Martin head coach MJ Vowell said. "We showed consistency and improvement from our training since the first match of the season three weeks ago. We also had a couple of people step up in the absence of Jacob Osborne, who is one of our normal counters in both guns but was away fulfilling academic obligations. It was a good early season performance for us to build on moving forward."

The Skyhawks will make the same trip back to Murray next Sunday, Oct. 13 when they take on Ole Miss.