Lorenzen, Wilson To Participate In The NCAA Rifle Championships

OXFORD, Miss. Ole Miss senior Jennifer Lorenzen and junior Shannon Wilson will participate in the NCAA Rifle Championships as individuals, beginning March 9 in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Lorenzen, a Memphis, Tenn. native, was selected to compete as an individual in the smallbore competition. She ranks third in school history in the smallbore with a career-high score of 584. Lorenzen earned All-America honors in the smallbore last year and All-America honors in the air rifle in 2005.

Wilson, a Fairfax Station, Va. native, was selected to compete as an individual in the air rifle. Wilson broke the school record in the individual air rifle (592) this season, which she previously held with Lorenzen. She finished runner-up at last season’s NCAA Championships in the smallbore and is tied for the school record in the smallbore (587). Wilson also won the gold medal in smallbore at the 2006 U.S. Junior Olympics and won the junior women's air rifle portion of the 3x Air and Top Gun Championships.

“I am very excited that Ole Miss is going to be represented in the NCAA Championships for the second straight season,” said Ole Miss head coach Valerie Boothe. “We were disappointed that we couldn’t be there as a team, but both Jennifer and Shannon have had fantastic careers and seasons and deserve this honor. I know they will do there best to make Ole Miss proud.”

The NCAA Championships have a maximum 48 competitors. The eights teams that qualify can either be 4 or 5 person teams. If every team uses their maximum, it takes up 40 of the 48 spots, leaving 8 spots for the individuals. Individuals are selected based on their score during the designated qualifier from highest to lowest. Once the qualifying teams are determined, all of the individuals who contributed to getting their team to the championship are taken out of the mix making up the first 40 or less slots. Then the top individuals will fill up the remaining slots.  In even numbered years the advantage goes to the smallbore discipline and in odd numbered years the advantage goes to the air discipline.  The first individual slot goes to the top air rifle score for the 2007 Championships. Individuals are selected alternating between the two disciplines until all 48 slots are filled.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks will host the championships, which will be held at the Patty Center on the Fairbanks campus. The smallbore competition will begin on March 9 and the air rifle will be held on March 10.

Individual Qualifiers (Smallbore Three-Position)
Matthew Hamilton, United States Military Academy
Jennifer Lorenzen, University of Mississippi
Layne Lewis, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Lee Lemenager, University of Nevada, Reno
Meghann Morrill, University of Nevada, Reno

Individual Qualifiers (Air Rifle)
Erica Burnham, Tennessee Technological University
Shannon Wilson, University of Mississippi
Ashley Jackson, University of Kentucky
Wesley Hess, United States Military Academy
Keegan Singleton, University of Memphis
Leah Wilcox, University of Texas at El Paso

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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