South Florida Bulls rifle

The South Florida Bulls rifle team represented the University of South Florida in the sport of riflery. The program consisted of a men's and women's co-ed team which competed in NCAA Division I.

South Florida Bulls rifle
Founded1985
Folded1990
UniversityUniversity of South Florida
LocationTampa, FL
NicknameBulls
ColorsGreen and Gold[1]
         
NCAA Team Silver Medals
1989
NCAA Team Bronze Medals
1987, 1988
NCAA Smallbore Gold Medalists
Michelle Scarborough: 1990
NCAA Air Rifle Gold Medalists
Michelle Scarborough: 1989

History

The USF rifle team first competed in the NCAA Championship in the 1985–86 season.[2] Since so few schools sponsor rifle, all teams that sponsor it are eligible for the championship. The Bulls finished tied for 5th out of the 7 teams that competed in the 1986 NCAA Championship. They returned to the event in 1987 and 1988, where they finished in third place both times. They also won the NRA Smallbore Intercollegiate Sectionals in 1987.[3] In 1989 the team had their best finish ever, taking second place in the competition.[4] The program never competed as a team again after the 1989 championship, with the athletic department citing budget problems as the reason.

Athletes

USF Athletic Hall of Fame inductee Michelle Scarborough won two individual national titles with the Bulls rifle team, winning championships in the 1989 air rifle event and the 1990 smallbore event (smallbore is considered the more prestigious of the two events in college riflery).[5] Rifle is the only NCAA sponsored sport where men and women directly compete against each other, meaning that Scarborough was not only the best woman at these events, but shot better than all the men as well.[6] Scarborough's 1989 championship in air rifle was the highest score ever in the event for either men or women with an unprecedented 399 out of 400 points until the event changed from 40 shots to 60 shots in 2005.[7] Her titles were the 12th and 13th individual NCAA National Championships in USF history, and the only ones in a sport other than swimming.

Three Bulls shooters have competed in the Olympic Games. Dorothee Deuring represented Austria in 1988, Kristen Peterson represented the United States in 1988 and 1992, and Peter Durben represented the United States in 1992.[8][9] Other athletes competed internationally as well. Most notably, Michelle Scarborough won three team gold and an individual bronze medal at the 1991 Pan American Games and Matthew Suggs won a team gold and individual silver medal at the 1987 ISSF 10 meter air rifle world championship.[8][10]

See also

References
  1. USF Color Palettes | University Communications. Retrieved October 26, 2018.
  2. "NCAA Rifle Championships Results" (PDF). NCAA. NCAA.org. Retrieved February 1, 2017.
  3. "Intercollegiate rifle team trophy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2009-09-05.
  4. "University of South Florida yearbook. (1988)". digital.lib.usf.edu. Archived from the original on 2020-11-17. Retrieved 2020-11-15.
  5. Nack, William. "KEEPING COOL UNDER FIRE". Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
  6. "Michelle Scarborough (2009) - USF Athletic Hall of Fame". USF Athletics. Archived from the original on 2020-06-25. Retrieved 2020-09-11.
  7. "Inaugural Hall of Fame Inductee: Michelle Scarborough". USF Athletics. Archived from the original on 2020-12-01. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
  8. "USF Olympians - GoUSFBulls.com?Official Athletics Web Site of the University of South Florida". USF Athletics. Archived from the original on 2020-12-01. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
  9. "Dorothee Deuring". Archived from the original on 2020-04-18.
  10. "USA Shooting announces the hire of Matt Suggs as Chief Executive Officer | USA Shooting". www.usashooting.org. Retrieved 2020-12-10.
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