Eagles Claim SoCon Air Rifle Team Title

Saturday, March 2

Statesboro, GA

All Day

Georgia Southern University

Southern Conference Championships

Photo by: Stephanie Arends Neal

3/3/2019 5:34:00 PM | Women's Rifle

Kramer, Weekley go 1-3 in air rifle finals

SCORECARD

STATESBORO - The Georgia Southern rifle program got a strong effort from all four shooters, including a school- and SoCon-record 598 from Rosemary Kramer, to pull ahead late to capture the 2019 Southern Conference Air Rifle Championship for the second time in three years. Overall, the Eagles finished fourth in the two-day event that was held at the Shooting Sports Education Center on campus that was won by No. 20 UAB.

The Eagles got off to a strong start when Courtney Weekley posted a 581 in the first relay. In the second relay, Caroline Brakeville put up a 571, two shots higher than her season average, and junior Lydia Odlin posted a 575, four points higher than her season average, to put the Eagles in the hunt. That set the stage for Kramer, who had been dealing with an illness all weekend, to step up and deliver. The senior went 100-99-99-100-100-100 for a 598, tying the marks of 598 she set earlier this year. That total gave the Eagles a 2,325 team score, topping UAB by four points for the trophy.

In the finals, Weekley and Kramer both got off to great starts to position themselves for a deep run. Weekley continued to shoot well and finished in third place with 222.0 points, but it was Kramer who ran away with it as she posted a 249.6 with two 10.9s in the process to leave little doubt as to the best air rifle shooter in the conference.

Post-event, Kramer was named SoCon Air Rifle Athlete of the Year for the second season in a row. With her win, she became the first SoCon individual champion in the school's rifle history.

Weekley and Kramer were both named first-team all-conference in both smallbore and air rifle and head coach Sandra Worman was named co-coach of the year in the league.

Words From Coach Worman:
"Every score is important and you have to come up with the math, and they sure did. I'm so proud of the girls for digging deep. Some of them exercised some things they had been working on all year and Lydia worked on some things that are panning out for her. I'm just thrilled for each member of the team for how they brought it on the most important day to bring it of the season. For Rose and Courtney to go one and three is fantastic. It's something we've talked about being possible, doable and feasible, but they just had to put their minds to it and they did."

THE SCORES
#20 UAB: 4,582 (2,261 smallbore; 2,321 air rifle)
#19 North Georgia: 4,571 (2,254 smallbore; 2,317 air rifle)
The Citadel: 4,556 (2,249 smallbore; 2,307 air rifle)
Georgia Southern: 4,481 (2,148 smallbore; 2,325 air rifle)
VMI: 4,478 (2,221 smallbore; 2,257 air rifle)
Wofford: 4,433 (2,198 smallbore; 2,235 air rifle)
VMI (W): 4,429 (2,175 smallbore; 2,260 air rifle)
The Citadel (W): 4,036 (1,997 smallbore; 2,039 air rifle)

THE INDIVIDUALS
Rosemary Kramer
Senior - Culloden, Ga.
Aggregate - 1,152 - 4th
Smallbore - 554
Air Rifle - 598 - tied school and SoCon record; advanced to finals; finished 1st

Courtney Weekley
Senior - Leesburg, Ga.
Aggregate - 1,149 - 6th
Smallbore - 568 - advanced to finals; finished 6th
Air Rifle - 581 - advanced to finals; finished 3rd

Lydia Odlin
R-Junior - Scarborough, Maine
Aggregate - 1,103
Smallbore - 528
Air Rifle - 575 - third-best score of the season

Caroline Brakeville
Fr. - Shreveport, La.
Aggregate - 1,077
Smallbore - 506
Air Rifle - 571

Up Next: Rosemary Kramer will compete in the NCAA Air Rifle Championship next Saturday, March 9 in Morgantown, West Virginia. She is in relay No. 2, which begins at noon. The top eight qualifiers move on to the finals, which will determine the NCAA champion.