The extra work put in by the Wilbraham & Monson Academy Riflery team during the preseason quickly paid off as the Titans opened their official schedule with a 932-922 home victory over Avon Old Farms Jan. 16.
Sally Qiu '16 led the Titans with an impressive score of 191 (out of 200). David Zhan '17 (189) and Dan Wesson '18 (189) also scored well, and Michael Carson '18 (182) and first-year shooter Drew Morrison '16 (181) rounded out WMA's scoring.
"I was impressed with the team, for our first match," Coach John Lombard said. "We were professional and positive with each other, and on task.
"We had done our homework. For the first time in a decade, we had two scrimmages before the winter break. I could tell those two training sessions, where we shot for record but it did not count toward our league standings, helped bring the team together and helped find our weaknesses."
A strongpoint for the Titans during the Avon match was the team's spotters, who did an accurate job adjusting the shooters' scopes, which resulted in higher scores.
"I'm so proud of our relationships between the spotters and shooters," Coach Lombard said. "We're able to form a relationship to figure out how each other wants to communicate, especially how to do sight adjustment. We're different than other teams – we almost rely entirely on student spotters. The coaches do a little, but we really rely on the students."