Armed and ready
9/10/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Rifle
Sept. 10, 2003
FORT WORTH, Texas - TCU rifle enters the 2003-04 season with a firm grip on the school's record books. For two consecutive years, the squad broke all four school shooting standards (individual and team smallbore; individual and team air rifle). Leading the group of shooters will be Celeste Green.
Green made an immediate impact for the Purple squad in the 2002-03 season. She set a new school standard for the smallbore with a tally of 1,173 at the Horned Frog Invitational. Celeste also matched the school record for air rifle with a score of 392 at UAB. Her scores of 391 in air rifle and 1,165 in smallbore earned her first place finishes for those events at the NCAA Sectionals. Celeste was the only shooter on the team to earn honorable mention all-America honors for smallbore. She is also no stranger to national or international competition either. She has represented the United States on numerous national teams in international meets, including the U.S. National and Development teams in 2001-02 and the Junior World Championship team in 2002. At the 2002 ISSF World Shooting Championships in Lahti, Finland held in July, Green placed 13th in the world in the Women's Junior 50m prone. That score was good for second among American shooters.
Celeste Green is the only returning shooter to have helped the Frogs to both records - 1,550 in air rifle and 4,504 in smallbore at the Horned Frog Invitational.
Replacing record-holder Jessica Green will be Jess Parras. Parras finished in the top ten of the two meets she saw action in during 2003 including a third place finish at Centenary in smallbore.
Rounding out the Purple squad will be Nina Martinez and newcomer Nikki LeCompte. Martinez started the 2002-03 season as a member of the White team, but she soon moved up to the Purple squad and saw nothing but top-10 finishes for the rest of the season including a third-place air rifle finish at the NCAA Sectionals. LeCompte, the only freshman on the squad, owns three national records in sporter air rifle. She won the Virginia State Championship two years in a row and served as captain for the Virginia all-star team that won the NRA national championship in 2002.
"With the returning girls, we have a possibility of having a very good season," Ivy said. "As long as we continue to improve on strength and be more consistent from match to match, the team will have a good year."
Joncee Moulder and Dana O'Shea return as the only experienced members of the White team and they are expected to lead Stephanie Lawrenz and Janelle Stecklein who have never shot in a competition.
"My goal is to rebuild the White team," Ivy said. "I want to continue to work with Stephanie and Janelle and continue to build them up."
Ivy looks forward to another record-breaking season for this group of shooters and hopes to surpass the standards set by previous teams.
"We are ready to start a new season and by the time Sectionals comes around, we should be able to finish as good or better than a season ago," Ivy said.
The team will start their season Sept. 20 in Reno, Nev.
Players Mentioned
