TCU Rifle Headed to NCAA Finals

Congratulations are due to the most dangerous Frogs on campus: the TCU Rifle Team!  The NCAA announced the eight Rifle teams that have advanced to the NCAA Finals in Akron, Ohio, March 11-12, and the Frogs were one of those teams.  When we last left our Firearm Frogs, they were headed to their NCAA Qualifier at TCU's Rifle Range last weekend.  They faced the Air Force Academy and started off down by 6 points after the smallbore portion.  Air Force competitor Spencer Cap shot a 586, which was the top score.  Frogs Rachel Garner and Hannah Black tied for second 584.

The Frogs had a great comeback in air rifle, and there was a 3-way tie for first place with a score of 592, including Air Force's Spencer Brandon, TCU's Nicole Hankey, and TCU's Mindy Miles.  The number of center shots were counted to break the tie.  Spencer Brandon had 46 center shots to take first place, versus Hankey, who had 44 center shots and Miles with 38 center shots.  The final team scores were 4,686 (Air Force) to 4,685 (TCU).

Once the match was over, the wait began for the NCAA to announce the final 8 teams headed to the Championship.  To determine the teams, the NCAA averaged the 3 highest scores for each team this season.  However, each score had to come from a different competition site.  For example, TCU had high scores of 4,708 against Nebraska, 4,703 against Ohio State*, and 4,702 against Air Force back in October.  But since the Nebraska and Ohio State competitions were both held in Fort Worth, only one of those scores counts (the one against Nebraska).  That probably means that the match against Memphis, Ole Miss, or UTEP was considered, since they were all away matches with aggregate scores of 4,696.  At the end of the day, the following 8 teams were chosen to attend NCAA Finals:

Texas Christian University

U.S. Air Force Academy

University of Alaska Fairbanks

University of Kentucky

University of Nebraska Lincoln

West Virginia University

Ohio State University*

Murray State University

An additional 8 individual qualifiers were announced, from the U.S. Military Academy, University of Memphis, Jacksonville State University, North Carolina State University, and the University of Mississippi.  These individuals will compete with the shooters from the Top 8 teams for the individual titles only.

Be sure to grab a TCU Rifle shirt from the Bookstore or just wear purple on Friday, March 11 and Saturday, March 12 to show your support for our Rifle Frogs!  You can also catch a special feature on the TCU Rifle team TONIGHT on NBC with Kris Gutierrez!

*I refuse to call it "The" Ohio State University.  Never.  Not gonna happen.  It's dumb.  You can't make me.