OXFORD, Miss. — The Ole Miss rifle team held its postseason banquet Wednesday night at the Basketball Practice Facility to celebrate the 2012-13 season, and the entire team took home top academic honors by the Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association.
Head coach Valerie Boothe presented all seven members of the team with Collegiate Rifle Coaches’ Association All-Academic certificates. To win this honor, you must have a GPA of 3.2 or higher. Senior Kim Coffey and junior Abbey Stanec received the honor for the third year in a row.
“We are extremely proud of their hard work in the classroom,” head coach Valerie Boothe said. “We pushed them to up the team GPA and that’s what they did. This is the first time we’ve had the entire team achieve this, and it’s a great honor.”
Boothe also handed out the annual team awards with junior Melissa Quartarone earning team MVP honors. The Georgia native ended her season with a team-leading aggregate of 1158 and earned Great America Rifle Conference honors in combined.
Coffey was recognized as the Scholar Athlete of the Year for the third year in a row. A psychology major, Coffey, carries a 3.77 cumulative GPA.
Junior Rena Goodwin, last year’s Most Improved Shooter, was given the honor a second time. In air rifle, Goodwin posted an average of 579, and in smallbore she finished with a 564.7 average.
Stanec received the “Iron Gun” award for excellence in strength and conditioning. Stanec also won the team’s most dedicated award for the second year in a row. The Ohio native earned her second consecutive NCAA appearance, competing in both smallbore and air rifle.
The night also included a 45 minute highlight video of the season.
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