The No. 8 Nebraska rifle team will head to Columbus, Ohio, to take on the No. 11 Ohio State Buckeyes and No. 12 Akron Zips in an NCAA-qualifying match this Saturday, Feb. 17.
Competition is set to start at 7 a.m. (central). The Huskers will compete on lanes 9-14. Live video for lanes 9-10 is here and lanes 11-14 can be found here. Fans can follow along with live stats here.
NU is looking for its 20th NCAA Championship bid since 2000 and fourth in the last five years. At last year’s NCAA Championships, the Big Red placed sixth, while Cecelia Ossi won the national title in the smallbore.
Saturday’s score will determine 50% of the score that determines if teams qualify for the NCAA Championships. It will be combined with the average of Nebraska’s top-three team scores at different locations from this season. Those scores are 4,728 (at Air Force, 10/15/23), 4,722 (vs. West Virginia, 10/29/23) and 4,720 (at UTEP, 1/27/24).
“The team is ready for qualifiers this weekend,” Head Coach Mindy Miles said. “I think we are all ready to make it official and continue training for the NCAA Championships.”
The Huskers have had a solid season so far and will be looking to continue their success going into NCAA Qualifiers. NU’s score of 4,728 at Air Force is the highest score in program history. Ossi shot a 597 in the smallbore on Jan. 27 at UTEP, shattering the previous school record of 593, which was shot by Kristina Fehlings 20 years ago. Ossi, a senior from New Jersey, also tied the program record of 598 in the air rifle on Oct. 29 against WVU. She is a four-time all American during her career at Nebraska.
Four Big Red athletes have shot personal bests so far this season – along with Ossi’s record scores, she earned a 1,191 in the aggregate at UTEP on Jan. 27. Junior Mackenzie Strauch shot a 595 in the air rifle on the same day, and sophomore Camilla Johannessen scored a 581 in the smallbore on Jan. 14 against Kentucky. Freshman Charlie Mick has posted impressive season-best scores of 583 in the smallbore (at the Citadel), 597 in the air rifle (at UTEP) and 1,180 in the aggregate (at UTEP).
Most recently, Nebraska finished fourth at the Patriot Rifle Conference Championships in Fort Wayne, Ind., on Feb. 3-4 The Huskers shot a 4,711 aggregate, including a 2,376 in the air rifle and a 2,335 in the smallbore. That field included five of the top 10 teams in the country.
NU has faced Ohio State twice this season – once in its season-opener and once at the PRC Championships. The Big Red came out with a victory in both matchups. Nebraska has not yet faced Akron.
