CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Coast Guard put its undefeated conference record on the line at the Mid-Atlantic Rifle Conference Championship on March 7th and 8th and did not disappoint, coming away with its third consecutive MAC Championship and a second clean sweep of the top three individual places in both smallbore and air rifle competition.
The Bears led off the smallbore phase by opening a 70 point edge over traditional rival Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Junior Seth Strayer shot a match high 194 kneeling and kept on rolling to end up with a 576-26X aggregate score and the individual smallbore championship. Hunter Blankenship's 187 standing gave the junior rifleman honors in that position and helped him rack up a 568-25X total which was good for the silver medal in individual competition. Bryce Sturtz, a sophomore, struggled in kneeling and prone but put together a solid standing which gave him a 557-16X and two point edge over MIT's Jesus Herrera, who had the top prone score of 198, for the individual bronze. Freshman Berit Bedord's 548-19X was sixth overall and rounded out the team which notched a 2249-86X for the team win. Rose Reynolds placed 12th individually, right in the middle of the pack. MIT was second, John Jay College of Criminal Justice was third, and The State University of New York-Plattsburgh was fourth.
Day two of the championship saw a change in time as Daylight Savings Time came into play and a change in equipment as air rifles were brought to the line. The loss of an hour sleep did not seem to affect the team as Strayer led off with a solid 585 which earned him his second individual championship is as many days. Sturtz made a strong comeback from his smallbore performance with a 582 and the individual silver medal . Blankenship, who had been in the doldrums in his last few air rifle matches, broke out of his mini slump and shot a 578 for the bronze. Bedord had a strong showing with a 573, just two points shy of her personal best and fourth overall. Rose placed eight. With an air rifle aggregate of 2318 Coast Guard wrapped up the air rifle championship. John Jay was second with MIT and Plattsburgh third and fourth.
Coast Guard's grand aggregate of 4567 earned the Bears the conference championship. MIT placed second, 58 points ahead of John Jay with Plattsburgh in fourth.
With another championship under its belt Coast Guard will await post season honors from both the MAC and the Collegiate Rifle Coach's Association.
