CHARLESTON, S.C. - Georgia Southern Rifle closes out the 2017-18 season this weekend at the Southern Conference Rifle Championships. The Citadel hosts this tournament for the second-consecutive season at the Inouye Marksmanship Center in Charleston

The SoCon will crown team champions in both the smallbore and air rifle disciplines as well as an overall champion. In addition, individual champions will be crowned in each discipline. Smallbore competition will take place Saturday, followed by air rifle on Sunday.

Georgia Southern delivered an outstanding performance on the final day of the 2017 Championships to steal the Air Rifle Championship from North Georgia, denying the Nighthawks a clean sweep of the team trophies. The Eagles went 6-1 in league matches, finishing just behind 7-0 North Georgia.

The Eagles rank fourth on the smallbore average scores chart, 64 points behind North Georgia. The state of play is much closes in air rifle with the Eagles sitting second, 12 points adrift of the Nighthawks on average score.

Eight teams will be competing for the 2018 title. UAB, The Citadel (co-ed and women's teams), Georgia Southern, North Georgia, VMI (co-ed and women's teams) and Wofford will compete this weekend.

Rifle returned to the SoCon last year, adding to the conference's rich rifle history. Current members The Citadel have won a league-best 10 team titles and VMI claimed two titles during the league's first incarnation (1956-85). West Virginia's John Writer, the 1965 and 1966 SoCon individual champion, won a gold medal in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games and a silver in 1968 in Mexico City, both in rifle three positions. ETSU became a player on the national scene from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, winning seven straight SoCon titles and placing third at the inaugural NCAA Championships in 1980. The Bucs finished no worse than fourth at the NCAA Championships each year from 1980-85.

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