NC State rifle finalized its performance at the Great American Rifle Conference Championships on Sunday, Feb. 26 in Morgantown, West Virginia, in its last competition of the season. Overall, the Pack finished with a final tally of 4,682, good enough for seventh place out of eight total teams.
The two-day competition saw NC State put up a smallbore score of 2,325 on Saturday, Feb. 25 and tallied an air rifle score of 2,357 on day two. While the Pack stayed consistent in both events, those scores weren’t good enough to eclipse any other teams, especially the hosting West Virginia Mountaineers, who won the Championship with a total score of 4,722. However, NC State did show signs of improvement, scoring 15 points better than its 2022 GARC Championships score.
Day One
NC State’s smallbore total of 2,325 was good enough for fifth place on the first day of shooting. Junior Ben Salas paced the Pack in the event with his score of 590, allowing him to qualify for the individual smallbore finals. In that competition, he placed fifth out of eight total finalists.
Freshman Kendall Goebel followed up Salas with a 582-point performance and sophomore Katie Tedeschi came in third for the Pack with a score of 580. Meanwhile, freshman Kyra Meade and junior Roman Karadsheh scored 573 and 565, respectively.
Day Two
The second day of competition brought the air rifle event, where NC State put up a total score of 2,357. Again, Salas led the red-and-white, and on the weekend, he was the Pack’s best performer. He recorded a team-high score of 594, the Pack’s highest individual score of the weekend. Additionally, Salas’ individual aggregate tally of 1,184 was the highest of the weekend for NC State.
Like the day before, Goebel followed Salas in second place for air rifle, recording a tally of 591 that tied her career-high score. Overall, she placed second on the weekend among NC State’s shooters with an individual aggregate score of 1,173.
To round out NC State’s air rifle shooters, Tedeschi, junior Lauren Crossley and Meade put up scores of 587, 585 and 580, respectively.
The GARC Championships signified NC State’s final performance of the 2023 season. However, Salas’ impressive performance earned him an individual qualification at the NCAA Rifle Championships in Akron, Ohio from March 10-11. Salas will compete in both the smallbore and air rifle events.
