By: Kelsey Aylor, Senior Writer

Wofford’s rifle team recently wrapped up its season at the Southern Conference Championship during the weekend of March 4-5 at The Citadel’s Inouye Marksmanship Center. Its five members all participated in both the smallbore and the air rifle competitions.

Led by Col. Randy Hall, the team finished eighth overall, marking the end of a rebuilding season after the loss of three strong seniors last year. Cierra Holcombe ’18 led the team in the smallbore competition, placing second overall individually, while Zach Hunter lead the team in air rifle.

Holcombe, a biology major from Lyman, S.C., was also named to the All-Southern Conference for the smallbore event. She looks forward to the next season, hoping to break some records.

“This season I did match the school record of 571 in small bore, but next year will be even better,” she says. “I hope to break that record as well as shoot a perfect 100 in either air or smallbore.”

Holcombe says she had never done rifle prior to coming to college but is grateful for the experience because it has encouraged her involvement on campus.

“As a freshman, whenever I told someone I was a commuter, he or she would tell me I needed to get involved,” she says. “This advice was genuinely wonderful, because I know if I hadn’t joined the team I probably wouldn’t be half as involved.”

Holcombe says the sport has brought her a group of friends and peers who think similarly to her and share the same struggles and successes.

For the upcoming season, the team hopes to recruit more freshman and sophomore students in order to prepare for departing seniors. Holcombe encourages those with interest to look into the sport.

“Rifle is one of those interesting sports where it is both a team and an individual sport. Individuals can do very well, even make it to the higher levels without the rest of the team, but each individual is needed to propel the team as a whole on to greater heights,” she says. “We operate well together as a team. When one of us struggles, we all struggle. When one succeeds, we all succeed.”