Rifle Teams Open Strong against The Citadel

With the first competition of the 2019-20 season, the VMI men’s and women’s rifle teams started the season with a win at home versus rival The Citadel Bulldogs. The Bulldogs had won the last four head-to-head meetings versus VMI.

The VMI men’s team snagged the overall win after a close air rifle battle that separated the two teams by just two points. The VMI men’s team would end with 4528 aggregate points to The Citadel’s 4505 points after winning the smallbore competition. The VMI women’s rifle team dominated with 4366 aggregate points compared to The Citadel women’s 1574.

Hunter Jacob ’20 led all individuals in the smallbore and air rifle with 571 and 578 points, respectively, totaling 1149 aggregate points. Nick Reynolds ’20 finished eighth among individuals with 1109 aggregate points, and James Doucett ’23 finished ninth with 1107 aggregate points representing the men’s team,

Kelia Aardema ’20 topped the women in individual competition with 567 smallbore points, 565 air rifle, and 1132 aggregate points. Jessica Hankin ’22 (7th) and Samantha Reid ’22 (10th) rounded up the top 10 VMI individuals.

Team Scores

VMI Men – 2242 SB, 2286 AR – 4528
The Citadel Men – 2217 SB, 2288 AR – 4505
VMI Women- 2140 SB, 2226 AR – 4366
The Citadel Women – 520 SB, 1054 AR – 1574

Top VMI Individuals

Hunter Jacob ’20 – 1st – 1149
Kelia Aardema ’20 (W) – 4th – 1132
Jessica Hankin ’22 (W) – 7th – 1113
Nick Reynolds ’20 – 8th – 1109
James Doucett ’23 – 9th – 1107
Samantha Reid ’22 (W) – 10th – 1103

VMI Men – Air Rifle

Hunter Jacob ’20 – 1st – 578
Alexander Allison ’23 – 2nd – 576
Mason Tarkenton ’22 – 8th – 567
James Doucett ’23 – 12th – 560
Nick Reynolds ’20 – 13th – 559
Jason Gardner ’22 – 17th – 531

VMI Women – Air Rifle

Jessica Hankin ’22 – 6th – 567
Samantha Reid ’22 – 7th – 567
Kelia Aardema ’20 – 9th – 565
Lauren Dost ’20 – 14th – 552
Claire Lee ’22 – 15th – 540
Savanah Diamond ’22 – 18th – 524
Cassidy Dufour ’23 – 20th – 503

VMI Men – Smallbore

Hunter Jacob ’20 – 1st – 571
William Davidson ’20 – 5th – 554
Nick Reynolds ’20 – 7th – 550
Stephen Garner ’23 – 8th – 549
James Doucett ’23 – 9th – 547
Simon Krauthamer ’22 – 12th – 539
Nicholas Schaefer ’23 – 15th – 534
Joseph Snyder ’22 – 16th – 532
Ben Doehler ’21 – 17th – 524

VMI Women – Smallbore

Kelia Aardema ’20 – 2nd – 567
Jessica Hankin ’22 – 10th – 546
Samantha Reid ’22 – 13th – 536
Claire Lee ’22 – 14th – 535
Savanah Diamond ’22 – 18th – 523

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on VMIKeydets.com