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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
GARC Championships
Quartarone Places Third In Air Rifle At GARC
3/2/2014 | Rifle
March 2, 2014
OXFORD, Miss. - In her last match as a Rebel, Ole Miss rifle senior Melissa Quartarone shot a 591 in air rifle Sunday, to make the finals, and then her 182.3 in the finals was good enough for third place at the Great America Rifle Conference Championships here at the Patricia C. Lamar National Guard Readiness Center.
"My match went great," Quartarone said. "It's a really good way to end the season. I've learned a lot, and it was great to end on a good note."
Quartarone was tied with five other shooters at 591 after the second relay, but her center count was good enough to break the tie.
"Melissa had a phenomenal day, and we have been waiting for her to have that score all year," head coach Valerie Boothe said. "The very last recorded shot that she shot was a 10.9, which is the highest that you can get. That was a phenomenal thing to walk away from. For her to make it into the finals by her x count was great. We broke the tie between about six different people, and she was one of the ones that got in because her center count was so high. She did great; she thrives on that environment of being in finals and the pressure."
As a team, the Rebels finished sixth overall with a 4625 aggregate. After a disappointing smallbore score (2275), the Rebels rebounded to shoot above their season average in air rifle with a 2350. Freshman Alison Weisz, who earned All-Conference honors in air and qualified for the NCAA Championships, shot a 588. Senior Alivia Yeager closed out her career with a 586 in air, while fellow seniors Rena Goodwin and Abbey Stanec posted a 585.
In smallbore, Weisz posted a season best 576 on Saturday to lead the Rebels.
"We were a little disappointed with smallbore, we did not perform like we wanted to," Boothe said. "I think the seniors got caught up in it being their last match, but the freshmen made up for that. Smallbore was a tough day, and we went in to air rifle knowing that we had to make it up. The seniors really performed, they did their best and had a great match. Our freshmen also had a great match. We performed well above our team average for the year; I am really happy with that."
West Virginia won their fifth straight GARC Championship with a total aggregate of 4700, while Kentucky finished second at 4672. Nebraska posted a 4655 for third place. Lauren Phillips of Nebraska took the smallbore title, while West Virginia's Marin Prediger captured the air rifle title.
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Smallbore - Ole Miss
Alison Weisz, 576
Melissa Quartarone, 571
Abbey Stanec, 567
MaryAnn Banks, 561
Rena Goodwin, 556
Total - 2275
Air Rifle
Melissa Quartarone, 591; 182.3 (Finals) Third place
Alison Weisz, 588
Alivia Yeager, 586
Rena Goodwin, 585
Abbey Stanec, 585
Total - 2350
Players Mentioned
