TCU
Patriot Rifle Conference Championships - Air Rifle
Rifle Claims Conference Championship
2/16/2020 6:41:00 PM | Women's Rifle
Casey Lutz takes home individual title
FORT WORTH – The TCU women's rifle team claimed its fourth Patriot Rifle Conference title and set a new program record in air rifle. Casey Lutz was crowned the conference's Air Rifle Champion.
As a team, the Horned Frogs fired their second-best score of the season and tied the second-best mark in program history with a 4,728. After firing a 2,340 in smallbore on Saturday, TCU dominated the field in air rifle, posting a school-record mark of 2,388.
Five members of the TCU team also qualified for the air rifle final on day two. Lutz won the title with a score of 249.0. Kristen Hemphill was the runner up with a mark of 248.3. Stephanie Grundsoee also qualified and placed fifth. Elizabeth Marsh and Abigail Gordon rounded out the final in seventh and eighth, respectively.
The Frogs got off to a hot start in the first relay as Hemphill tied her career-high with a score of 599. The sophomore was one point away from perfection, as she hit a 9.9 on her 36th shot. Grundsoee fired a 595.
Counters Grace Taschuk and Lutz represented the Frogs in the second relay of the day. Lutz turned in an impressive score of 596, the third-best score in the field. Taschuk posted a 591 and just narrowly missed the final based on centered shots as she was tied with two other competitors.
Not factoring into the scoring were Stephanie Allan and Emily Haag, who fired scores of 581 and 577, respectively.
The final relay was highlighted by Marsh's 598, which tied her career-high mark set on Nov. 4, 2017. She turned in four perfect strands of 10 in her performance. Rounding out the scoring for the Frogs were Gordon (591), Taylor Haffner (589) and Noelle Christensen (583).
On the weekend, the top four participants in the match were wearing purple. Grundsoee and Marsh each paced the field with the top score of 1,184. Lutz recorded the third-best aggregate score and tied her career-high with a 1,183. Hemphill secured the fourth spot as she fired a 1,177.
Air Force finished as the runner up in conference action, as the Falcons turned in a team score of 4,681. Peter Fiori, the conference smallbore runner up, once again paced the team as he placed third in the air rifle final and fired an aggregate score of 1,176 (584 smallbore and 592 air rifle) on the weekend.
Ohio State finished third overall with a score of 4,669. Rhiann Travis posted the top aggregate score for the Buckeyes with a 1,171 (581 smallbore and 590 in air rifle).
Alaska Fairbanks (4,639) and UTEP (4,583) rounded out the field in fourth and fifth, respectively. The Nanooks were led by Kellen McAferty, who placed second in the smallbore final.
Next weekend, the Frogs will travel to Colorado Springs, Colo. for their NCAA Qualifier match against Air Force.
Players Mentioned
