Rifle Earns Ninth Straight NCAA Berth
2/26/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Rifle
Mindy Miles leads the Horned Frogs in air rifle with a 592-point average in her first collegiate season. Hannah Black and Sally Li are tied with a 591 average, just one point behind Miles. The three shooters have also combined to give TCU a 596-point performance or better in each of the last five matches.
The smallbore discipline is equally diverse. Black and Li are tied atop the team leaderboard with 580-point averages on the year, while Ariana Grabowski, another freshman, is second (578).
TCU carries momentum into the northernmost state. After finishing second in the Patriot Rifle Conference Championships to Alaska-Fairbanks, the Horned Frogs defeated UTEP on Senior Day while shooting a 2,370 in air rifle, tied for the third-most in school history. The next week, the squad took down Air Force by four in the NCAA Qualifier to secure their spot in the final eight.
Alaska-Fairbanks, Jacksonville State, Kentucky, Murray State, Nebraska, Air Force and West Virginia round out the tournament field.
The Horned Frogs have seen each team in the field this season except for Kentucky, and have defeated every remaining squad except for West Virginia.
The top eight teams in both the smallbore three-position and air rifle events were selected based on the average of the three highest regular-season aggregate scores with no more than one match at any given site. The average of the three highest scores was added to the aggregate scores from the designated qualifiers to determine the top eight teams.
Individual and team competitions in smallbore three-position (60 shots) will be held Friday, March 13. Individual and team competitions in air rifle (60 shots) will be held Saturday, March 14. The overall team champion will be determined by combining the smallbore and air rifle team total scores into one aggregate score for each institution.
TCU won the national title under head coach Karen Monez in 2010 and 2012. Additionally, the squad claimed the air rifle National Championship in both 2010 and 2012, while taking home the smallbore National Championship in 2013. Sarah Scherer is the only individual to win national titles, doing so in smallbore in 2010 and 2012.
Players Mentioned
