Rifle's Clark, Dempster To Compete At NCAA Championships

Friday, March 9

Charleston, S.C.

8 am

University of Memphis

NCAA Championships

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Rifle's Clark, Dempster To Compete At NCAA Championships

Mar 08, 2018 | Rifle

Clark shoots smallbore Friday, Dempster air rifle Saturday.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Let the Madness begin for the University of Memphis rifle squad!

This weekend (Mar. 9-10), the Tigers send two shooters, sophomore Levi Clark and junior Leighton Dempster, to the 2018 NCAA Championships in Charleston, S.C. The Citadel is hosting the national postseason event, and McAlister Field House is the site for the two-day match.

It is the first NCAA Championships appearance for both Clark and Dempster. Clark shoots in the smallbore discipline, and Dempster competes in air rifle.

The smallbore portion of the championships starts Friday morning. The two smallbore relays run from 9:15 a.m.-1:30 p.m. (CT). The smallbore final begins at 2:30 p.m. (CT). On Saturday, the air rifle discipline runs a similar schedule, with the relays from 9:15 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (CT) and the final at 1:30 p.m. (CT).

Tigers Tidbits/NCAA Championships Notes

Levi Clark shoots in smallbore, marking the fourth-straight year a Tiger competes in the discipline (Amy Fister, 2015-17; Makennon Doran, 2017).
Clark averaged a 577.4 smallbore score this season. He shot 580 or higher in smallbore five times in 2017-18.
Clark tied his career-high smallbore score with a 584 at TCU Oct. 28. He also shot a 584 in the discipline at West Virginia in 2016-17 as a freshman.
The Clackamas, Ore., native also shot a career-high tying 1171 aggregate at the NCAA Sectional Qualifier Feb. 17. He also shot a 1171 aggregate in that same 2016-17 match at West Virginia.
Leighton Dempster is the first Tiger to compete in the air rifle discipline since her head coach, Dan Hermsmeier, did so in 2013. In 2005, Beth Tidmore won the NCAA air rifle championship.
Dempster shot a 589.7 average in air rifle in 2017-18. She shot 591 or higher in the discipline eight times this season, after hitting that mark once in her previous two campaigns.
The Loranger, La., native shot a career-high tying 593 air rifle score three times in 2017-18, the last time coming at the Feb. 17 NCAA Sectional Qualifier.
Dempster posted a career-high 1172 aggregate at the NCAA Sectional Qualifier.
Memphis is the lone school – outside the schools that qualified for the team competition – to send two individuals to the NCAA Championships.
This is the second-straight season the Tigers are sending two shooters to the NCAA Championships and only the fourth time in program history (2004, 2011, 2017, 2018).