LEXINGTON, Va. – Georgia Southern claimed the 2022 Southern Conference smallbore crown with a score of 2,266 on Saturday at the SoCon Rifle Championship hosted by VMI at Kilbourne Hall, marking the second consecutive year the Eagles have won the title. Georgia Southern’s Erin Ballard took home gold in the discipline with a final score of 579 and was also tabbed the Smallbore Athlete of the Year. 
  
The Eagles paced the field during finals with two shooters, including Ballard and sophomore Amy Visconti. In the qualifier, Visconti paced the Eagles with a 579 to place first, followed closely by Ballard’s 577, which took second place. Ballard and Visconti dominated the finals rounds, and following their back-and-forth battle for the smallbore title, Ballard came out on top to become the school's first SoCon smallbore conference champion, while Visconti finished second.  
 
North Georgia took home third with 2,254 points. Sophomore Jayne Fraley and junior Alyssa Kiser joined Ballard and Visconti in the final with a third and seventh-place finish, respectively. Fraley qualified for the final after posting a score of 575 earlier in the day, which was the third-best score in the field. Kiser posted a score of 567 to earn a spot in the finals, where the junior finished seventh ahead of UAB’s Amy Kohan.
 
The Citadel came in second with 2,255 points and UAB finished in fourth with 2,253 points. The Bulldogs’ James Hart and Charlotte Welsh finished fourth and sixth, respectively, while the Blazers’ Amy Kohan took home eighth in the finals.
 
VMI (2,242) and Wofford (2,141) finished in fifth and sixth, respectively, while the VMI women’s team and The Citadel women’s team tied for seventh with an aggregate score of 2140. Christopher Hicks of the Keydets was the last of eight student-athletes to qualify for the smallbore final with a score of 566, earning him a spot in the finals, where he finished fifth.
 
The top 10 smallbore athletes of the regular season earned 2021-22 All-SoCon honors for their performances. Georgia Southern placed three student-athletes on the All-SoCon squad, including Ballard, Visconti and Judson, who all received first-team honors. North Georgia saw three student-athletes named to the All-SoCon squad, with Jaden-Ann Fraser, Dawson Kissik and Alyssa Kiser representing the Nighthawks on the second team. The Citadel’s Hart and Welsh rounded out the first team for the Bulldogs, while UAB’s Kohan and Sophia Flores round out the second team.
 
The championship concludes on Sunday with the air rifle competition, where the SoCon will name the individual and team air rifle champions, along with the overall team champion. Action begins at 7:45 a.m. ET with the first of three air rifle relays. 
 
Smallbore team scores
1. Georgia Southern   2266
2. The Citadel             2255
3. North Georgia         2254
4. UAB                        2253
5. VMI                         2242
6. Wofford                   2141
T7.VMI (W)                 2140
T7. The Citadel (W)    2140

Smallbore individual final
1. Erin Ballard, Georgia Southern
2. Amy Visconti, Georgia Southern
3. Jayne Fraley, North Georgia
4. James Hart, The Citadel
5. Christopher Hicks, VMI
6. Charlotte Welsh, The Citadel
7. Alyssa Kiser, North Georgia
8. Amy Kohan, UAB
 
Smallbore Athlete of the Year
Erin Ballard, So., Georgia Southern
 
All-Southern Conference Smallbore
First team
Erin Ballard, Georgia Southern
Charlotte Welsh, The Citadel
James Hart IV, The Citadel
Amy Visconti, Georgia Southern
Ashley Judson, Georgia Southern
 
Second team
Amy Kohan, UAB
Jaden-Ann Fraser, North Georgia
Sophia Flores, UAB
Dawson Kissik, North Georgia
Alyssa Kiser, North Georgia