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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss Rifle Competes in Junior Olympics
4/19/2018 | Rifle
OXFORD, Miss.- Ole Miss Rifle concluded competition in the 2018 Women's National Junior Olympic Championships Wednesday. The competition was held at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Ole Miss had two team members finish in the top 25 in smallbore, and six compete in Air Rifle with three finishing in the top 25.
Smallbore Results
Freshman Abby Buesseler fired an 1134 and 1138 for a total of 2272 to finish 20th in smallbore, while fellow freshman Kamilla Kisch fired an 1132 and 1125 for a 2257 total to finish 23rd.
Morgan Phillips (Salisbury, Maryland) , a sophomore at West Virginia, won the event with a 2333 total followed by TCU freshman Elizabeth Marsh with a 2320. Kristen Hemphill took the bronze with a total of 2309.
This year's competition featured the new ISSF shooting format which means the Women's Rifle and Air Pistol events will now feature the same number of shots (60) as the men. They also shot the same number of shots (120, 40 in each of the three shooting positions) in Three-Position Rifle as in the men's competition.
Air Rifle Results
Six shooters represented Ole Miss in women's air rifle. The championships, which concluded Wednesday, were open to competitors born in 1998 and later. Scores fired in State Junior Olympic Championships were used to select the 183 shooters invited.
Three Rebels finished in the top 24 in the two-day air rifle event. Freshman Emily Cock led the Rebels after posting scores of 617.1 and 616.5 for a 1233.6 total. She placed 20th among all competitors. Cock was closely followed by fellow freshmen Abby Buesseler, who finished in 22nd with 1232.7 points and Kamilla Kisch who finished in 24th place. Kisch's two-day score of 1232.3 was just four tenths behind Buesseler.
Sophia Couzzo (1222.2 -53rd), Hayley Carroll (1206.6-100th) and Alana Kelly (1196.1 -126th) rounded out the Rebels competing in air rifle at the Junior Olympics.
TCUs Marsh picked up her second medal of the match and was the only Junior Women's Rifle athlete to qualify for the World Championship team in two events. She posted a total score of 1,244.4 and with the additional points she earned with her third-place finish in the final, took the gold. West Virginia freshman Sarah Osborn took silver and Emily Stith (Jacksonville, Florida) claimed the bronze by .1 point.
NJOSC Invitations
Everyone competing at the NJOSC had to earn the right to compete at this event - only 16 percent of Women's Three-Position Rifle athletes nationally earned invitations to this prestigious match. Invitations to the three-week-long National Junior Olympics were only sent to 763 athletes Rifle and Pistol athletes representing 49 states. These athletes were selected based on their finishes at the state-level Junior Olympic matches which totaled 2,408 competitors.
Marsha's Minute
"Overall we had a good showing," said head coach Marsha Beasley. This is one of the largest junior competitions in the country and provides a unique experience. I saw lots of improvement while we were here and I think the lessons learned will prove valuable to us.
This championship was the team selection match for the U.S. Junior Team that will compete in the World Championships in Changwon, South Korea in September. The Championships were very competitive this year with the winners firing world class scores.
For more information on Ole Miss Rifle, follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissRifle, on Facebook at OleMissRifle and on Instagram @OleMissRifle.
