The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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114 ■ THE WOLFPACKER BY JACEY ZEMBAL T he NC State rifle team is the only coed sport on campus and is trying to reload this season. Veteran head coach Keith Miller lost two tough-to-replace talents in Lucas Kozeniesky and Caitlyn Ford, who both reached the NCAA Championships last year. Kozeniesky was a 2016 U.S. Olympian in the 10-meter air rifle competition, and he is now a resident athlete at the Olympic Training Cen- ter in Colorado Springs, Colo., in anticipation of trying to make the 2020 Olympics team. Ford had a year of eligibility remaining, but elected to concentrate on her studies this year. The team went 10-5 last year and came up one spot shy of reaching the NCAA Championships, finishing ninth. NC State has not reached the NCAA Championships since 1982. Miller, who is in his 29th year at his alma mater, had the Wolfpack off to a 5-4 start through nine matches this fall. NC State was ranked No. 9 in the country by Col- legiate Rifle Coaches Association (CRCA) in the poll released Oct. 24. Competing well in the Great America Rifle Conference (GARC) Championships always remains the goal. This year, five- time national champion West Virginia hosts the event Feb. 23-25 in Morgantown, W.Va. "This is a neat squad because they are a smaller team than we had last year," Miller said. "Last year, we started the year with 12, which was frankly too many. Now we have eight, and probably nine or 10 is the sweet spot. They have pulled together really well." The Wolfpack finished fourth at the GARC Championships last year, paced by Lauren Phillips' 594 points. Phillips, a fifth- year senior who spent her first two years at Nebraska before transferring to NC State, was the GARC individual smallbore cham- pion, plus earned second-team all-league recognition in combined and air rifle. "She is a really strong shooter in both events and is leading us this year," Miller said. ■ PREVIEW RIFLE WELL-ROUNDED SQUAD NC State Has A High Upside And Is Aiming For Consistency Fifth-year senior Lauren Phillips captured the individual smallbore title at the Great America Rifle Conference Championships last year, and also earned second-team all-league honors in combined and air rifle. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS Three Rifle Performers To Watch Sophomore Zach Eisenberg Fairfax (Va.) Robinson Secondary has been good to NC State over the last few years, and both Eisenberg and junior Claire Spina came from the school. Eisenberg lettered in rifle all four years at Robinson Secondary and was able to appear in all 14 matches last year as a freshman. He was one of the Wolfpack's top five scorers in five matches — four for air rifle and once in smallbore. He averaged 580.44 in air rifle and 561.89 in smallbore for a 1,142.33 aggregate. Senior Derya Pekari Pekari earned a spot on the 2016 All-Southeastern Air Rifle Conference (SEARC) team and was a NC State Scholar- Athlete by Great America Rifle Conference (GARC) that year. She appeared in 12 out of 14 matches during her junior year, counting among the top five scorers in 11 matches for air rifle and nine for smallbore. She averaged 581.42 in air rifle and 563.91 in smallbore for a season aggregate of 1,145.33. Senior Lauren Phillips The former Nebraska transfer has quickly made her mark at NC State. She won the individual smallbore title at the GARC last year. She also earned All-American honors from the CRCA and National Rifle Association. The graduate student recorded a 592.23 season average in the air rifle competition, which ranked 12th in the country. Phillips averaged 1,171.5 per match in her combined total of air rifle and smallbore.