Imagine a sporting event that provides multiple red couches for its audience and a playlist featuring songs from artists like Britney Spears and Post Malone while 12 people fire at a target as small as the period at the end of this sentence.
Although the rifle range off of the Sisk Avenue exit has a laid-back appeal, the Ole Miss rifle team rarely takes a day off. Competing among the nation’s best and currently holding a No. 8 spot in CRCA rankings, the team’s hard work has paid off early in the season.
The squad practices five days a week in their state-of-the-art rifle range, with their playlist blasting over the speakers and making time for strength and conditioning sessions and even yoga. The team’s playlist is almost as recognizable to other teams as their success on the range.
“(Ole Miss) Athletics put it together, but they had to make sure everything was appropriate,” head coach Marsha Beasley said. “Everybody submitted songs that they’d like to see on it, and then (Ole Miss) Athletics put more. Other schools use our playlist. They say we have the best playlist. Some of the music drives me crazy. I can’t stand it.”
Rifle teams are encouraged to play music in the regular season during matches, which usually start at 8 a.m. The new rule was introduced in 2013 to attract a new audience to the 2016 Olympics rifle competition.
An NCAA rifle match consists of one smallbore event and one air rifle event. Smallbore refers to athletes using a .22 caliber rifle at a 50 feet distance away from a target the size of a period at the end of a sentence. The shooter must fire 20 shots in each of three positions: kneeling, standing and prone (to lie flat). Shooters can fire at their own pace, however there’s a time limit of 1 hour and 45 minutes.
The next shooting event is the air rifle round. Here, shooters fire 60 shots using compressed air rifles at the same sized target in the earlier smallbore event.
In both events, a shooter can accumulate up to 600 points. A perfect shot scores 10.9 points.
At the beginning of every match, the coach of each team picks out five shooters, but only the top four shooters’ scores are counted to determine the team’s final score. Electronic targets are used to measure each shot that then appears on the many flat screen TVs hanging in the range’s lobby.
After each round, a number is accumulated that will be added to the individual’s total score.
To qualify for the NCAA tournament, 50% of a team’s score will come from their top scores in three different locations, while the other half comes from the NCAA qualifier in February of 2020.
Marsha Beasley, the team’s head coach, will start her fourth year here at Ole Miss. She has been named College Rifle Coaches Association National Coach of the Year as well as Great American Rifle Coach of the Year in the 2017-18 year.
“We have such a good group. We have a wonderful team dynamic,” Beasley said. “The girls are all working very hard. They want to be here. In the first match, we saw three personal bests and I feel like it’s just going to be fun to watch it through the year.”
Junior Abby Buesseler, who beat her personal best in smallbore in the season opener, said she expects the team to go far this year.
“We have a lot of potential, and I think this year we are building up to something big,” she said. “So I’m excited to see what we’ll do.”
The Ole Miss rifle team has no native Mississipians on their team. The closest person is Alana Kelly, who is from Acworth, Georgia.
In their season opener against UT Martin, Rebel rifle secured their first win with an overall score of 4668-4591.
Buesseler, Kelly and freshman Claire O’Neel all surpassed their personal bests in smallbore. The team scored a total of 2317. In air rifle, they scored a total of 2351.
The rifle team then started to prepare for their most recent match against then-No. 8 Army. The Rebels were ranked just one above the Army until the Rebels secured their second win of the season, dragging Army down to No. 11 with a 4664-4645 win.
The top scorer in smallbore this week was Georgia native, Alana Kelly who scored a total of 580. Buesseler came in second with a solid score of 576.
Freshman standout, Claire O’Neel tied junior Buesseler in air rifle, each with a score of 592.
The Rebels’ next match will be on Nov. 2 against West Virginia at the Ole Miss Rifle Range, located right across the street from the Oxford Conference Center. The match begins at 8:00 a.m. and the first 35 guests will be treated to breakfast.
