Rifle Fall Notebook

OXFORD, Miss. – Ole Miss rifle recently capped off the first half of its 2024-25 campaign under second-year head coach Rachel Martin.

The Rebels went 4-3 overall and 1-1 in conference matches at the conclusion of the 2024 fall slate. The Rebels head into the break ranked No. 9 by the Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association and have competed against four top-10 programs.

Ole Miss is in familiar territory, capping last season’s fall campaign with the same record. The Rebels went on to go 7-6 and placed seventh in the national tournament.

Martin has led the Rebels to several impressive feats to start this season, leaning on one of the strongest freshmen signing classes in program history and an all-time Rebel in Lea Horvath.

FALL SNAPSHOT

The Rebels went 4-3 overall and 1-1 in Patriot Rifle Conference matches.
Lea Horvath fired her fourth career 600 in air rifle, becoming just the second athlete and only woman to accomplish that feat in collegiate rifle.
Horvath leads the Rebels in aggregate and air rifle averages, boasting 1183.4 and 597 per appearance, respectively.
Horvath started the fall campaign missing only two 10’s in air rifle during the first weekend of competition
Freshman Gracie Dinh leads the team in smallbore scoring, putting up 588.8 per appearance.
Dinh has fired 596-plus scores on two occasions this season, with 597 being her best.
Jordan de Jesus rounds out the big three, providing an over-590 average in air rifle.
Five of Ole Miss’ six freshman signees have earned spots as a counter.
Regan Diamond and M’Leah Lambdin have provided critical depth in both smallbore and air rifle, with one of them earning a start in all four wins this season.

Passing The Torch
Gracie Dinh has had an impressive start to her collegiate career thus far. Her performances have drawn comparisons to her teammate, Lea Horvath, and what she accomplished as a freshman in 2020-21.

That season, Horvath led the team in all three categories of shooting. This year, Dinh trails only Horvath in air rifle and aggregate scoring, showing that if Horvath elected not to take her fifth year of competition, Dinh would be comparable to Horvath. Against Navy and Nebraska, Dinh fired a 597 in air rifle, becoming the first Ole Miss freshman since Horvath to record that high of a score.

Horvath has continued to remind the collegiate rifle world of her status as one of the best to toe the line. She shot her fourth career perfect air rifle score against Murray State earlier in the year becoming only the second collegiate shooter to do so four times. She has the sixth-highest air rifle average in the country with 597 and has never dipped below 595 this season.

Have a day, Lea Horvath!

First woman in NCAA history with ???????? perfect air rifle scores ?? pic.twitter.com/u27Se0pyfY
— Ole Miss Rifle (@OleMissRifle) October 14, 2024

The Rebels will be left in good hands once the 10-time All-American graduates with a master’s degree in business administration. The Rebels will retain nine letterwinners from this season, as well as tack on the addition of freshman Savannah Criddle.

Fantastic Freshmen
A large part of Ole Miss’ success to start this season has come off the back of its 2024 freshmen class. Five freshmen have countered in at least one event this season, as three have established themselves into the starting rotation.

Gracie Dinh, Jordan de Jesus and Susan Carter have proven to be capable competitors in the arena. Dinh is off to the strongest start of the three, leading the team with the highest smallbore average (588.8) and the second-highest aggregate average (1181.6) on the team.

She’s coming off her two strongest performances this season, recording career highs in aggregate scoring in back-to-back weeks. She’s had the highest aggregate score for the Rebels in the last three matches.

De Jesus is right behind Dinh in scoring, averaging 1174.9 in aggregate and 592.8 in air rifle. She’s fired a 596 in air rifle twice this season and is tied with Dinh for the second-highest average on the team.

Freshmen fired up ??

Gracie Dinh and Jordan de Jesus have taken this fall season by a storm, being in the top 3 of aggregate scoring for the Rebs! pic.twitter.com/rYbRUK3fBq
— Ole Miss Rifle (@OleMissRifle) November 15, 2024

Carter claimed her spot in the starting lineup in the back half of the fall season. As a counter, Carter has averaged 587.3 in air rifle and provided plenty of depth the lineup.

Claudia Muzik and Kayla Riewe have also earned starting nods this season, both performing their best in air rifle. Muzik came out swinging in her first outing, firing 590 against Akron in the event. In Riewe’s first appearance as a counter, she fired a 586 in air rifle.

Smallbore Savages
Ole Miss has historically performed well in smallbore, both individually and as a group. The Rebels had an all-time performance in the second match of the season against Murray State. Ole Miss’ 2358 serves as the third-best team score in program history, while Lea Horvath tied her own program individual record with 597.

Squad rolls deep ??

The Rebs had a historic day against Murray State! pic.twitter.com/hmSLRDfl7R
— Ole Miss Rifle (@OleMissRifle) October 14, 2024

The Rebels have the seventh-best team average in the event thus far and third in the PRC.

Much of Ole Miss’ success in smallbore has come in the prone position. The Rebels have strung together eight instances of firing a 200 in prone. De Jesus and Emma Pereira have accomplished a perfect prone score three times each, while Carter has done it twice.

In the first match of the new year, senior M’Leah Lambdin fired a 599 out of the gate in the kneeling position. Her accomplishment tied a school record for the best score in smallbore’s first position.

New Conference, Same Target
The Rebels kicked off their inaugural season as members of the Patriot Rifle Conference. They went 1-1 in conference competition, with its most recent win against Ohio State acting as the first in conference history.

Ole Miss ranks in the top four of aggregate and smallbore to start this season. The Rebels’ 2358 smallbore score against Murray State is the second-highest mark by any PRC team this season, trailing only Alaska Fairbanks, who scored one point higher.

The PRC is packed with capable opponents, including No. 2 Alaska Fairbanks. The Nanooks spent the first two months of fall as the top seed, before getting knocked off in a conference matchup against TCU. The Horned Frogs, now ranked fourth, handled the Nanooks, 4743-4732.

TCU and Alaska Fairbanks are the most daunting and decorated opponents in the PRC, both having won an NCAA championship in the past two years. They combine for 13 national titles in total, and one has claimed the conference title every year except one (Air Force, 2019) since 2014.

Eyes Forward
The Rebels will regroup in January to commence the spring portion of the season. Ole Miss will travel to Fairbanks, Alaska, for a four-team tournament on Jan. 17, 2025, and a three-team tournament the following day. There, Ole Miss will face its third PRC opponent in No. 2 Alaska, as well as former conference opponents Akron and Army.

Rebs On Social
For more information on Ole Miss rifle, follow the Rebels on Facebook (OleMissRifle), Twitter (@OleMissRifle), Instagram (@OleMissRifle) and at OleMissSports.com.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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