You’d think that someone on a rifle team would go hunting for his or her own turkey over Thanksgiving break to practice, but that wasn’t the case for the members of the NU rifle team.
“I don’t think anyone has hunted for their own turkey,” senior Christine Costello said with a laugh. “But we had a former teammate that had live turkeys on her property, and she hunted them.”
Costello and her teammates took the time to relax and enjoy the break with family but came back and took on 10-time national champion Alaska-Fairbanks Monday.
The Nebraska rifle team lost its second match in a row 4,595-to-4,680 against the Nanooks on Monday, falling to a 6-3 record.
“I think it’s kind of a back-to-the-drawing-board kind of day,” Costello said. “I think we have some areas we know we need to work on now.”
Costello led NU with a 585 in air rifle, but her score did not count toward the Huskers’ total. Before the match, head coach Morgan Hicks did not choose Costello to be one of the four Huskers that would contribute to Nebraska’s total team score.
Hicks said she expected the team to do a little better after a break.
“It wasn’t a total disaster, but our small bore was a little lower than we expected,” Hicks said.
Since rifle is mostly a mental sport, class schedules, exams or social lives can affect how someone is shooting, according to Costello. She said the Huskers’ hectic preparation for the end of the semester might have played a part in Nebraska’s loss on Monday.
“When you’re on the line, and you’re trying to clear your head, anything that’s going on is going to be a little temptation for you to sidetrack your thoughts,” Costello said. “You have to have a balance between relaxing, your social life and shooting.”
Although the Huskers have now lost two matches in a row, Hicks said she knows they are in a better position than they were last year.
“It’s definitely a stronger start, and our scores are higher than they were last year,” Hicks said. “So, it’s helping, and that’s what we’re really looking at.”
Sitting at a 6-3 record, which is one match better than last year’s 5-4 record at this point, the rifle team will have some time to get it together over Christmas break. When the Huskers come back from break, they will head to Murray, Ky., to take on Murray State and hope to end their losing streak.
“When we come back, we are going to hit it pretty hard,” Hicks said. “We are going to change a couple things. We are going to tighten it up and change our mentality and not force some bad habits.”
chrisdorwart@dailynebraskan.com
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