SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Southern Conference Rifle Championship will take place Saturday and Sunday at Georgia Southern’s Shooting Sports Education Center in Statesboro, Georgia.
 
The SoCon will crown team champions in both the smallbore and air rifle disciplines as well as an overall champion. In addition, individual champions will be crowned in each discipline. Smallbore competition will take place Saturday, followed by air rifle on Sunday.
 
Eight teams will be vying for the 2020 title. UAB, The Citadel (co-ed and women’s teams), Georgia Southern, North Georgia, VMI (co-ed and women’s teams) and Wofford will compete this weekend. 
 
North Georgia enters as the highest ranked team nationally at No. 19, but 20^th-ranked UAB comes in at the top of the standings after finishing its SoCon slate with a perfect record of 7-0. The Nighthawks are second at 6-1, with their only loss coming at the hands of the Blazers. At last year’s championship the Blazers picked up their first title, with coach Lori Goodman being named co-coach of the year with Georgia Southern’s Sandra Worman. UAB won the overall team title with an aggregate score of 4582, with North Georgia claiming second with an aggregate score of 4571. The Citadel was a close third at 4556 points, while Georgia Southern (4481) and VMI (4478) battled for fourth and fifth place, respectively. Wofford, VMI women and The Citadel women finished sixth through eighth, respectively.
 
In 2020, North Georgia averaged the highest conference scores in smallbore (2262.25), air rifle (2310.167) and aggregate (4572.417). UAB, the team at the top of the standings, sits in second in smallbore (2252.8), air rifle (2300.8) and aggregate (4553.6). The Citadel had the third-highest averages in all three disciplines after a 4-3 season, while VMI posted the fourth-best averages with a 5-2 record. Georgia Southern posted the fourth-best record in the conference at 4-3, with the VMI women, Wofford and The Citadel women taking the final positions in the standings.
 
North Georgia’s Kimberlee Nettles has posted the top score in the SoCon in smallbore (580), while the Nighthawks’ Jayne Fraley leads the SoCon in air rifle (592) and Nettles leads the SoCon in aggregate (1162).
 
At the conclusion of the championship, athletes of the year in each discipline as well as a freshman of the year and a coach of the year will be named. The Southern Conference all-conference teams will also be named.
 
Admission to the championship is free.