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Women's rifle team wins Austin Peay Invitational


While most of the students at the UTM were caught up in homecoming activities this past weekend, the Skyhawk women's rifle team was busy taking care of business Saturday at the Austin Peay Invitational in Clarksville.

The women won the invitational with a 1,504, Morehead State's mixed team was tied for second with The Citadel. Both teams shot 1,488. The UTM mixed team was fourth with a 1,485, while Morehead State's women were fifth with 1,443. Austin Peay finished sixth with a 1,438.

"We had an excellent team effort with good solid individual scores," said Bob Beard, UTM's head rifle coach. "The effort paid off with a tournament championship."

The Skyhawk women's air rifle team included Chandra Braun, 371; Jennie Fladebo, 383; Becky Latimer, 375; and Jessie Wilson, 375.

The Skyhawk mixed team included Jaymie Collar, 376; Matt Furr, 365; Stacy Loyd, 373; and Dan Rebhan, 371.

"Our mixed team came up short," Beard said. "One more point by each team member and they beat every other college in the tournament."

Devra Harvey shot a 355, while Carson Kuehn shot a 366. Both Harvey and Kuehn are UTM shooters who competed in the Austin Peay Invitational as individuals.

The UTM women's team also competed against Morehead State while at the Austin Peay Invitational. The same scores were used, so UTM's women's team also racked up a win over Morehead State's mixed team.

The UTM shooters also competed in the University of Memphis 2003 Tiger Open Sunday. The UTM women finished fifth with 1,498, while the mixed team was sixth with a 1,483.

The University of Texas El Paso won the Tiger Open with a 1,529, while the University of Memphis was second with a 1,522. Ole Miss was third and Birmingham Southern was third and fourth with 1,520 and 1,502 points, respectively.

Fladebo led the UTM women's team with a 382. She had 15 center targets. Wilson shot a 374, while Braun and Latimer turned in 371s.

"We had a good effort from a tired team," Beard said. "The two tournaments 200 miles apart in two days brought our scores down a bit."

Beard said Fladebo's 382 shows she continues to shoot extremely well.

The UTM mixed team shot a 1,483. Loyd led the team with a 376, while Furr had 370. Collar and Rebhan shot 369 and 368, respectively.

UTM's Stephanie Talgo turned in a 375 in the Tiger Open. She competed as an individual.

"This was an excellent first match for Talgo," Beard said.

The women's rifle team fell to nationally ranked Mississippi this past weekend. Ole Miss won the air rifle competition with a 1,510, while UTM shot 1,507.

Ole Miss also won the smallbore competition, shooting 4,571 compared to UTM's 4,296.

Skyhawk rifle coach Bob Beard had Chandra Braun, Jennife Fladebo, Becky Latimer and Jessie Wilson in the lineup Saturday. Fladebo led the team in the air rifle with 380, while Braun shot 377 and Latimer shot 374. Wilson shot 374. The Skyhawk shooters hit 53 centers. Fladebo and Latimer hit 14 each. Braun hit 13 centers, while Wilson nailed a dozen.

"We had a strong team effort," Beard said. "One more point by each team member and we would have beaten them in air rifle." Braun and Latimer both turned in career highs in air rifle.

In the smallbore, Latimer led the way with 1,097, while Braun shot 1,085. Fladebo shot 1,070 and Wilson shot 1,044. Latimer's 1,097 was a personal best.

"She is consistently shooting ten to twenty points better than last year," Beard said.

Jaymi Collar competed in the dual match as an individual for the Skyhawks and shot 1,154 in the smallbore, the best score in seven years for UTM. Collar shot 371 in the air rifle.

Also competing as an individual in the air rifle for the Skyhawks was Stephanie Talgo. She shot a 368.

"Both of our team scores (air rifle and smallbore) were better than I expected," Beard said.

UTM's shooters return to action Oct. 25 when they host Birmingham Southern.