No. 14 UTEP rifle took on No. 11 Ohio State (OSU) Nov. 23 and 24. Even with strong performances across the board, the Miners would go on to drop both days to OSU.

The Miners hosted their fifth and sixth home game to conclude the fall regular season.

The rifle team strung together a 4667-aggregate score, but Ohio state outlasted with 4709 aggregate.

Freshman Kameron Wells led UTEP in aggregate with 1175, having her finish third overall in the match and fourth in smallbore.

Though falling short, the Miners would see improvement in production from a couple of players.

Freshman Julia Czernik (566) and sophomore Paige Hildebrandt (578) passed their personal best each in smallbore.

UTEP went on to keep their morale up heading into Nov. 24 wanting to achieve more.

On day two, the Miners broke through barriers shattering the program record of aggregate with their score of 4690. Ohio State again would reach 4709.

Freshman Carlee Valenta headed this historic performance achieving her career best of 1178 aggregate on top of a best in smallbore. She would also achieve second in discipline. Wells would follow behind in a close second with 1176.

Over the course of their fall season, the Miners have seen steady improvement and players have stepped up coming into their own.

This final exhibition match will conclude UTEP’s fall campaign. The Miners will resume competition on Jan. 19 with a triangular match alongside OSU.

All stats courtesy of UTEP Athletics.

Cameron Mason is a contributor for The Prospector and can be reached at [email protected]