University of Memphis Athletics
Saturday, September 22
Memphis, Tenn.
All Day
University of Memphis
vs
Tiger Open
Photo by: Joe Murphy
Rifle Wins Season Opener
Oct 02, 2018 | Rifle
Dempster with career-best performance in the Tiger Open.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – University of Memphis senior Leighton Dempster had a career-best performance in the Tigers' victory over Jacksonville State in the Tiger Open, the annual season-opening event, Sunday. The match was held at the R.F. Fogelman Rifle Range on the Memphis campus.
Memphis, ranked No. 14 in the Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association (CRCA) preseason poll, won the match over the No. 13 Gamecocks by a 4649-4648 score. The Tigers edged Jacksonville State 2349-2342 in air rifle, but the Gamecocks won smallbore 2306-2300. The scores became official late Monday.
With its win over Jacksonville State, Memphis won the Tiger Open. The Tigers were first (4649) followed by Jacksonville State in second (4648), UT Martin third (4578) and UAB fourth (4552).
Dempster posted career-highs in smallbore (582) and aggregate (1175) and tied her career-best in air rifle (593). She had the match's highest aggregate and air rifle marks and placed second in smallbore to teammate Levi Clark.
Up Next
The Tigers are off from competition until Oct. 13-14 when they travel to West Point, N.Y., and Morgantown, W.Va., for two Great America Rifle Conference matches. Memphis faces Army West Point Oct. 13 and then competes against West Virginia Oct. 14.
Head coach Dan Hermsmeier
"It was a good win for us. We had some good performances from our upperclassmen. Leighton posted a personal-best aggregate, and our freshmen did really well in their first match. I was impressed with their effort. Arielle (Kimm) had the team's third-highest aggregate in her first college match.
"It was good seeing the freshmen do so well. It's a sign they're adapting to the culture (we've built) and also feeding off the upperclassmen about working hard on the range every day, and it's starting to show."
Tigers Tidbits
2018 Tiger Open
Memphis Results
*score counted in team smallbore score
^score counted in team air rifle score
Memphis, ranked No. 14 in the Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association (CRCA) preseason poll, won the match over the No. 13 Gamecocks by a 4649-4648 score. The Tigers edged Jacksonville State 2349-2342 in air rifle, but the Gamecocks won smallbore 2306-2300. The scores became official late Monday.
With its win over Jacksonville State, Memphis won the Tiger Open. The Tigers were first (4649) followed by Jacksonville State in second (4648), UT Martin third (4578) and UAB fourth (4552).
Dempster posted career-highs in smallbore (582) and aggregate (1175) and tied her career-best in air rifle (593). She had the match's highest aggregate and air rifle marks and placed second in smallbore to teammate Levi Clark.
Up Next
The Tigers are off from competition until Oct. 13-14 when they travel to West Point, N.Y., and Morgantown, W.Va., for two Great America Rifle Conference matches. Memphis faces Army West Point Oct. 13 and then competes against West Virginia Oct. 14.
Head coach Dan Hermsmeier
"It was a good win for us. We had some good performances from our upperclassmen. Leighton posted a personal-best aggregate, and our freshmen did really well in their first match. I was impressed with their effort. Arielle (Kimm) had the team's third-highest aggregate in her first college match.
"It was good seeing the freshmen do so well. It's a sign they're adapting to the culture (we've built) and also feeding off the upperclassmen about working hard on the range every day, and it's starting to show."
Tigers Tidbits
- Leighton Dempster shot a career-high 1175 aggregate (582-593) in Sunday's Tiger Open. Her previous-best aggregate was 1172 at last year's NCAA Sectional Qualifier.
- Dempster had a career-high smallbore score of 582. Her previous career-best was 579 at last year's NCAA Sectional Qualifier.
- Dempster tied her career high in air rifle (593). She shot a 593 air rifle score three times in 2017-18.
- Freshman Arielle Kimm had a spectacular collegiate debut. She finished sixth overall – and third on the team – with a 1160 aggregate. Kimm was third overall in air rifle with a 589.
- Levi Clark posted the match's third-highest aggregate (1167) and won the smallbore discipline with a 583 score.
- Freshman David Crenshaw placed in the top-10 in air rifle, coming in eighth with a 583 score.
2018 Tiger Open
| Team/Ranking | Smallbore | Air Rifle | Aggregate |
| Memphis/#14 | 2300 | 2349 | 4649 |
| Jacksonville State/#13 | 2306 | 2342 | 4648 |
| UT Martin/#18 | 2264 | 2314 | 4578 |
| UAB | 2249 | 2303 | 4552 |
Memphis Results
| Individual | Smallbore | Air Rifle | Aggregate |
| Leighton Dempster*^ | 582 | 593 | 1175 |
| Levi Clark*^ | 583 | 584 | 1167 |
| Arielle Kimm*^ | 571 | 589 | 1160 |
| David Crenshaw^ | 568 | 583 | 1151 |
| Matt Dorey* | 564 | 582 | 1146 |
| Mark Meyeraan | 574 | 567 | 1141 |
| Amberlie Ezell | 552 | 574 | 1126 |
| Adriana Hickerson | 526 | 573 | 1099 |
^score counted in team air rifle score
Players Mentioned
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