NU’s rifle team benefits from complementary leaders

One is reserved and stoic. The other is loud and outgoing.

One is direct and unfettered. The other is more likely to preface criticism with a joke.

On the personality spectrum, you'd be hard-pressed to find two people less alike than Nebraska rifle co-captains Amanda Jeffries and Christine Costello.

But together, the two seniors have led the women's rifle team to a 5-1 record and positioned the squad to be contenders for the NCAA championships.

"They bring a lot," head coach Morgan Hicks said. "Amanda Jeffries – she's a former All-American – she knows what it takes to be at the level we need to be at as a whole team. Christine Costello knows what it takes. She's been a strong, consistent shooter here since I got here (in 2007)."

Both athletes say their different leadership styles complement each other in a way that helps the team thrive.

"Amanda is very strict, very direct," Costello said. "Amanda can be the bad cop. She tells people right to their face what needs to be done and when it needs to be done by. I don't really like conflict, and I like to smooth things over with being funny, and that kind of works out perfectly because the two of us balance each other out."

Jeffries puts it a bit differently.

"She's more of an optimist, and I'm more of a realist," Jeffries said.

Hicks also sees distinct differences in the two captains.

"(Costello) is an overall, all-around great individual to have on the team. That's what you want the incoming freshmen on the team to look up to, and I think the girls have Christine as that person," Hicks said.

"Amanda's actually quite quiet off the range. She's more of a leader on the line when it comes to teaching what to do on away trips and the ropes of practice and what the whole environment of college shooting entails."

Two years ago, the pair spent an ill-fated semester together as roommates. Between taking many of the same classes (both were engineering majors at the time), competing together on the rifle team and even being partners on class projects, the relationship quickly soured.

They ended up moving out over winter break that year, a situation which Costello said strained their friendship for a while.

"The worst fight that we ever got in was we said, ‘I don't really like you very much right now,'" Costello said. "It wasn't that we hated each other — we just needed that space."

After a semester apart, the teammates reconnected the following summer and began to rebuild their friendship. Costello said the mutual understanding they gained has helped them complement one another as leaders.

"The cool part is that we got over it, and we understand each other a lot better and each other's personalities," Costello said.

Since then, the pair has established themselves as the core of the Cornhusker lineup. Jeffries qualified as a first-team All-American last season on air rifle, and Costello was an honorable mention for the all-conference team.

Costello led the team last weekend in victories against Memphis and Mississippi, taking first place individually in both matches.