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February 27, 2020 | Vol. 94, No. 20
@MurrayStateNews
Coronavirus strikes again
Students unable to spend semester in South Korea Daniella Tebib News Editor dtebib@murraystate.edu Two Murray State students were on a plane in Detroit, Michigan, ready to fly to Seoul, South Korea, when they received text messages telling them to get off of the plane immediately because their program had been canceled. Over 80,000 cases of coronavirus have been reported worldwide and nearly 1,300 cases have been reported in South Korea. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention put out a level 3 travel advisory warning to avoid nonessential travel. Carrie Owen, sophomore from Henderson, Kentucky, and Austin Coursey, sophomore from Russellville, Kentucky, arrived in Nashville, Tennessee, on Thursday, Feb. 20, for their 8:55 a.m. flight. Neither student had ever flown on a plane or even been in an airport before and were already overwhelmed with nerves. They later arrived in Detroit, Michigan, for one of their connecting flights and boarded the plane during their 20-minute layover just to find out they were no longer going to study abroad for a semester in South Korea. Coursey said they discovered their program was canceled because he decided to check his phone while they still had a few minutes before the plane was going
to take off. After deactivating airplane mode, he received numerous texts from his parents and an unknown number telling him and Owen to get off of the plane immediately. “I immediately showed Carrie the messages and we got off of the plane, silent and devastated,” Coursey said. After rushing off the plane, Coursey said he called the unknown number from Murray State and Melanie McCallon Seib, director of education abroad, was on the other line. Coursey said McCallon Seib assured him everything was going to be okay, but the trip had been canceled because of a coronavirus outbreak in Daegu, South Korea. “There weren’t any tears from me,” Coursey said. “I was mostly in shock. I knew that the coronavirus was a thing that existed and it was causing some problems, but I never expected my exchange program to not work out. I was scared that this would affect my graduation date because I would be missing a semester of college and I was dreading the cramped plane ride home.” Owen said their orientation had already been canceled at Korea University and the semester had been delayed, but she never expected the entire program to get canceled.
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see CORONAVIRUS page 4
Bryce Anglin/The News Photo courtesy of Austin Coursey
Racers earns sixth straight NCAA Rifle Championships Nick Kendall Staff Writer nkendall1@murraystate.edu
Nick Kendall/The News Athletic Director Kevin Saal talks to the Rifle team after the selection show concluded.
News Opinion Sports Features
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After the selection show came to a close on Tuesday, Feb. 25, it was confirmed that Murray State Rifle will make the trip to Lexington, Kentucky, for its sixth straight trip to the NCAA Rifle Championships. The team that was on the outside looking in a few matches ago, but found itself right back in the competition by putting up two season-best aggregate scores in the last two matches against Jacksonville State and the University of Nebraska. After struggling early, Head Coach Adam Lollar was happy to see that his team picked the pace back up and were able to recover, earning a spot in the championships. “Our goal at the start of the year is to be able to play on the last day,” Lollar said. “If you can make it to the last day of the season, then we got a chance to win it all.” Losing six All-Americans over the last two years has been rough for Lollar, but he has been proud of the fight the team has
been showing and believes that they have no idea how far they can go. “They never got discouraged when it was tough,” Lollar said. “I have seen them getting better over the last six weeks of the spring and just when they needed to. This is one of the few teams I’ve had at this time of the year that is getting better.” Making their sixth consecutive appearance is a big deal for senior Meike Drewell. Carrying on the tradition of winning for Racer rifle means the world to her and the rest of the squad. “I think it’s going to be similar to last year,” Drewell said. “We know what it feels like, we know exactly what we’re capable of and we know that we can line up with any team that shows up. We’re going to give them a run for their money because we know we have that confidence.” After hearing the team’s name in the selection show and knowing how far the team has come, Drewell is ecstatic for the tournament.
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see RIFLE page 6
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Eroding minimum wage is cause for concern
Racers fall one run short against SIU
James Young chats memories, music and more
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