NU rifle team qualifies for NCAA tournament

Even with a loss in its qualifying dual, the Nebraska rifle team posted a score good enough to earn a place in the eight-team national tournament.

In their match-up with West Virginia, the Cornhuskers technically lost 4,659 to 4,612 to the defending national champions. However, with the qualifying process for rifle, the team's score still appears to be enough for NU to earn a spot at the NCAA tournament next month junior Ryann McGough said.

With the regular season now behind the team, Ryan said it will be a challenge to prepare for the stress of postseason competition.

"I think the focus now is going to be on pressure shooting and adapting to the mentality that it's just about the one match," McGough said. "You don't get any second tries or another match to make up for lost points."

In rifle, a team's qualifying score is calculated by averaging the team's top home score with the top two road scores, then adding the score from NCAA qualifiers. Coming into the weekend, the Huskers were eighth in regular season average by just one point, and narrowly outperformed ninth place Murray State in qualifying.

McGough said the small margin by which the team qualified made for a "stressful" weekend, but that she thinks the team will be able to learn from the experience.

"With the way things went, I think people are really going to focus on their weaknesses," she said."Also, I think it will help us understand how we can perform better in pressure situations."

Next up for NU is the Great America Rifle Conference championship next weekend in Oxford, Miss. Then the team has almost three weeks of preparation before nationals begin Mar. 13 in Fort Worth, Texas. The Huskers have already shot at site of the national tournament this season, when they faced off against TCU in November.

McGough said although there is a long time between postseason competitions, it will give the team a chance to improve and get themselves ready for the NCAA tournament.

"It's a really good thing that we have a couple weeks before NCAAs because we have some weaknesses to take care of before being ready to compete in the national championships," McGough said.

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