Weisz Earns All-Conference Honors

Following the opening day of the 2014 Great America Rifle Conference Championships (GARC), the conference held a banquet Friday night at the Oxford Convention Center to hand out the regular season GARC awards.
Freshman Alison Weisz earned Honorable Mention All-Conference honors in air rifle with a 586.4 average. She is the first freshman to earn All-Conference honors in the history of Ole Miss rifle. On Thursday, the Montana native became the first freshman in program history to qualify for the NCAA Championships, earning a bid in air rifle.
Weisz, who leads the Rebels in air rifle, currently owns a career-best 594, which she posted at Memphis in leading the Rebels to the win.  She has steadily improved during the season, posting a 590.5 average in the last six matches.
Senior Abbey Stanec represented Ole Miss as the Rebel Scholar Athlete of the Year.  She is a three-time Collegiate Rifle Coaches’ Association (CRCA) Academic All-American and a three-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll.  This year, Stanec was inducted into Who’s Who Among Colleges and Universities.
Memphis head coach Butch Woolbright was named the GARC Coach of the Year, while Kentucky’s Emily Holsopple was named the Shooter of the Year and Senior of the Year. The Wildcats’ Sonya May, earned Rookie of the Year honors.
The GARC Championships continue at the Patricia C. Lamar National Guard Readiness CenterSaturday morning beginning at 7 a.m. with team smallbore competition.  The smallbore finals will be at5:30 p.m.
The complete list of GARC awards follows.
2014 GARC AWARDS
Smallbore All-Conference
1st Team
Emily Holsopple – Kentucky
Garret Spurgeon – West Virginia
Dan Hermsmeier – Memphis
Rachel Martin – Nebraska
Joseph Todaro – Army
2nd Team
Meelis Kiisk – West Virginia
Sonya May  – Kentucky
Michael Mathews – Army
Thomas Kyanko – West Virginia
Daniel Sojka – West Virginia
Lauren Phillips – Nebraska
Honorable Mention
Connor Davis – Kentucky
Patrick Sunderman –West Virginia
Denise Martin  – Nebraska
Aaron Holsopple – Kentucky
Amy Fister – Memphis
Air Rifle – All-Conference
1st Team
Maren Prediger – West Virginia
Connor Davis – Kentucky
Emily Holsopple – Kentucky
Garret Spurgeon – West Virginia
Dan Hermsmeier – Memphis
2nd Team
Sonya May  – Kentucky
Meelis Kiisk – West Virginia
Patrick Sunderman –West Virginia
Richard Calvin – Army
Elijah Ellis – Kentucky
Honorable Mention
Heather Kirby – Kentucky
Jonathan Pinkle – Kentucky
Elizabeth Lee – Memphis
Lauren Phillips – Nebraska
Alison Weisz – Ole Miss
Combined All-Conference
1st Team
Emily Holsopple – Kentucky
Garret Spurgeon – West Virginia
Dan Hermsmeier – Memphis
Connor Davis – Kentucky
Sonya May – Kentucky
2nd Team
Meelis Kiisk – West Virginia
Joseph Todaro – Army
Patrick Sunderman – West Virginia
Rachel Martin – Nebraska
Maren Prediger – West Virginia
Honorable Mention
Lauren Phillips – Nebraska
Thomas Kyanko – West Virginia
Denise Martin – Nebraska
Jonathan Pinkle – Kentucky
Michael Mathews – Army
Shooter of the Year – Emily Holsopple, Kentucky
Rookie of the Year – Sonya May, Kentucky
Senior of the Year – Emily Holsopple, Kentucky
Coach of the Year – Butch Woolbright, Memphis
Assistant Coach of the Year – Rick Johnson, Army
Sportsmanship Award – Nebraska
Scholar-Athletes of the Year
Nebraska – Sunny Russell
Army – Olivia Nardone
Kentucky – Emily Holsopple
West Virginia – Maren Prediger
Memphis – Elizabeth Lee
Ole Miss – Abbey Stanec
NC State – Maddy Pike
Navy – Jodi Cull-Host
–Ole Miss Athletics Media Relations