CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Defending Mid Atlantic Rifle Conference champions Coast Guard opened its 2019-20 season with a conference road win against MIT.

A hot start in the kneeling position helped co-captain Hunter Blankenship lead the Bears in smallbore with a 570. Sophomore Bryce Sturtz used a near Academy breaking prone score of 198, which included a perfect final ten shot string of 100, for a 561. Co-captain Seth Strayer overcame a shaky start in kneeling with a pair of 99s prone to pull him within one point of Sturtz at 560. Rounding out the top four was freshman Rose Reynolds who posted a 558. The quartet put together a 2249 to best MIT's smallbore score of 2131. Getting their first taste of collegiate competition were freshmen Berit Bedord and Dane Harbison.

Strayer bounced back in air rifle with a score which tied the Academy and MIT Range record of 588 with a rare perfect ten shot string in the difficult standing position. This is the second time the junior Naval Architecture major has tied his own record set at MIT last season. Backing him up was Sturtz at 583. Blankenship and Reynolds added a 579 and 570 respectively to give Coast Guard a 2320 to the Engineer's 2174.

The Bears, 1-0 overall and in conference, return to MIT in two weeks for a rematch.