Ole Miss Rifle continues to make university history books this season as freshman Lea Horvath led the team to another victory on Saturday, Jan. 30 in Morgantown, W.Va., against two Great America Rifle Conference opponents: No. 12 Akron and No. 14 Navy.
Horvath achieved a feat that no other Rebel has ever accomplished in the field, scoring a perfect air rifle score of 600. The freshman joins an elite group of athletes as one of now twelve NCAA competitors to ever shoot a perfect score.
“We were excited to see Lea shoot a 600 in air rifle,” head coach Marsha Beasley said in a statement from Ole Miss Athletics on Saturday. “She has done it in practice, but it’s much harder in a match. She worked the match very well today, making sure she took the shots she wanted.”
While Horvath tied her career-high aggregate score of 1190, other Rebels got in on the action to achieve their ninth win this season. Sophomore Kristen Derting posted the next best score of the team with a mark of 1,173. Headlining the counters, sophomore Claire O’Neel competed as the counter in place of senior Abby Buesseler for the match, firing a 589. Junior Jillian Zarkzeski marked a 593, while junior Erin Walsh followed a point behind at 592.
As a whole, the Rebels fired a score of 2,374 in air rifle to finish the day.
The team finished with a score of 4,706, which was good enough to best opponents No.12 Akron (4,660) and No.14 Navy (4,646). Ole Miss moved to 6-0 in the conference for the year and 9-0 overall, surpassing their record for all-time wins in a season of eight.
Their victory on Saturday led them to the finals for the weekend as one of the top two opponents at the tournament with Ole Miss and West Virginia competing on Sunday, Jan. 31.
The Rebels continued their momentum, posting strong smallbore performances and the third-highest score in program history against the West Virginia Mountaineers. However, they ultimately fell short, incurring their first loss of the year at 4,737-4,713.
At air rifle, the team posted a strong 2,367. Horvath led the team again with a 598, followed by Buesseler and Derting, both posting a 593.
Despite the loss, the team will continue its record-breaking season and are not slowing down any time soon as the Rebels are back in action against the Memphis Tigers on Feb. 13.
