CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Facing the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in its second home competition of the fall, the MIT rifle team earned a split thanks in large part to a balanced performance in the smallbore portion. The Engineers received strong showings from all four shooters to outscore John Jay, 2118-2044, in smallbore. Tech suffered a narrow set back in air rifle, 2183-2170.

Nigel Kojimoto and Elizabeth Phillips set the tone in smallbore, posting scores of 553 and 544 respectively, good for the second and third highest totals of the match. Kojimoto did not have a single attempt less than 89 points and topped out at 98 on his best shot. Lionel Sotomayor (518) and Timothy Jenks (503) also surpassed the 500-point plateau to contribute to the win.

Despite the close loss, a number of Tech shooters posted career highs in air rifle. Phillips (556), Rebecca Gould (529) and Christian Valledor (502) each had the best scores of their collegiate careers in the competition. Kojimoto once again paced the team with a score of 568, including three shots of at least 96 points.

The Engineers also picked up a sweep of Hofstra University in postal results, winning 2149-1405 in smallbore and 2161-1515 in air. The team remains perfect on the season in smallbore at 3-0 and is an even 2-2 in air rifle competition.

MIT will host the U.S. Naval Academy, Wentworth Institute of Technology and Massachusetts Maritime Academy next weekend beginning Friday, October 22 at 5:00 p.m.