Rifle falls to TCU in spring opener

UTEP placed behind TCU with a score of 4541 and TCU with 4742.

Byline photo of Emmanuel Rivas Valenzuela

Emmanuel Rivas Valenzuela, Sports Editor • January 31, 2023

The University of Texas at El Paso women’s rifle hosted No. 1 Texas Christian University (TCU) early Saturday morning Jan. 28 at the University of Texas at El Paso Rifle Range located in the Military Science Building.

To end the fall stretch, UTEP exceeded a 4600 aggregate after the team’s trip to Nebraska in late November 2022 by noting an impressive 4613 aggregate.

Prior to the Nebraska matchup, the team also surpassed 4600 against TCU in early November with a 4604 aggregate.

The TCU Horned Frogs leads the nation in air rifle averages while ranking second in smallbore and aggregate average. Against Nebraska, the Horned Frogs scored 4744 to beat the Cornhuskers.

UTEP as a team has an aggregate average of 4,758.00. The Miners are led by Jonna Warnken with an aggregate average of 1,155.13. Senior Jonna Warnken currently leads the Miners with an 1163 aggregate while fifth year senior Morgahn Warner is at a close second at 1161.

Results for Saturday morning’s match placed UTEP behind TCU. UTEP scored 4541 behind the No. 1 team in TCU (4742).

Freshman Julie Johannessen shot a perfect 600 in air rifle allowing her to become the fifth riffler to in TCU history to complete such a score on air rifle.

Warnken continued to lead the Miners in this match with an aggregate of 1158. Senior Isabel Brooks finished with an 1138 aggregate. Junior Isabella Rios posted a 1136 and senior Amoret McCartney finished with 1109.

Only two UTEP shooters managed to finish in the top 10 in the aggregate categories. Rios and Warnken placed in the top 10 for the smallbore standings and Warnken and Brooks placed within the top ten in air rifle.

The Miners will head north for the Patriot Rifle Conference on Saturday, Feb. 4 and Sunday, Feb. 5 in Fairbanks, Alaska. The smallbore section of the championship will be held on Saturday in the E.F. Horton Rifle Range and the air rifle section will occur on Sunday in the Alaska Airlines Gymnasium.

There, the UTEP Miners will face off against the Air Force Academy Falcons, the University of Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks, the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers, the Ohio State University Buckeyes and the TCU Horned Frogs.

Following the championship, the Miners will head back home for the NCAA Qualifier against the University of Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks Saturday, Feb. 18 at the University of Texas at El Paso Rifle Range located in the Military Science Building in El Paso, Texas.

All stats courtesy of UTEP Athletics.

Emmanuel Rivas Valenzuela is the sports editor and may be reached at [email protected]: @rivasemmanuel2 on Instagram.

About the Contributors

Emmanuel Rivas Valenzuela, Editor-in-Chief

Emmanuel Rivas Valenzuela is a senior majoring in multimedia journalism with a minor in political science and chicano studies. Rivas is the editor-in-chief at The Prospector and has worked as a sports editor, writing contributor and as a bilingual writer at Minero Magazine. Outside of Student Media, Rivas has interned for McClatchy as a copy editor, El Paso Matters and a news reporter and most recently at KERA in Dallas-Fort Worth as Radio and News Reporter.

Annabella Mireles, Photo Editor

Annabella Mireles is a junior at the University of Texas at El Paso majoring in digital media production and minoring in film. She is the photo editor at the Prospector newspaper and Minero magazine as well as owning her own photography business. She plans on pursuing photography full time.