10/25/2002 - Rifle
Navy Rifle Aims for Top-Five National Finish

The youthful Navy 2002-03 rifle team will be looking to top last season's sixth-place finish at the NCAA Championship and improve on its final record of 10-1, the only blemish coming to top-ranked Alaska-Fairbanks. Team captain James Kauber is the only senior on this year's squad and will be looking to earn his first-ever berth at the NCAAs. He will be joined by three members that each reached the NCAAs last season, including junior Marta Jung and sophomores Matt Albright and Mike Miller. These four shooters will carry the Mids this season, while coach Bill Kelley will be looking for others to emerge from the pack. "I would characterize our team as a young, developing team with some experience and a great deal of potential," said Kelley. "They potentially could be one of the best teams Navy has ever had, but they are young, and you never know those things until you get into the season. They're good students, good in the (Bancroft) Hall, stay out of trouble and are good shooters." Kauber will be looking to top last season's performances, where he recorded a smallbore-high score of 1150 against Army in the Star Match. The Mids picked up the N-Star, and he scored a season-best 387 three times in the air rifle against the University of the Sciences, VMI and Duquesne. He is also the lone All-American on this year's team, earning the honor in 2000-01. "Because he's the only senior, there's a lot responsibility that falls to him," stated Kelley. "To the rest of the team, he personifies the role of team captain a lot more than maybe in years past. The other people on the team see him as 'the man.' He's an important part of our success this season." Jung specializes in air rifle as she returns tied with Miller for the top score last year with a mark of 391. Her high mark was attained both at the Buckeye Invitational and at the MAC Championship. She has competed at various world championships in addition to last season's run at the NCAA Championship during her career. She has now turned her sights on earning her first All-America selection this season. "Jung is a top air-rifle performer," noted Kelley. "She's one of the top air-rifle shooters in the country. She has the potential to be an All-American in air rifle this year." Albright and Miller both showed tremendous potential last season by reaching the NCAAs during their freshmen campaigns. Albright recorded his best score of the season during the day two competition with an 1164 mark in the smallbore. His 389 score during the air rifle competition also marked a season best and set the precedent for him to follow this season. "Albright has made a quantum leap since last spring. He shot his smallbore season high at the NCAA Championship and whenever someone puts up their best score at a match like that, it tells me we are on the right track with that person." With a total score of 1551 (1160-smallbore, 391-air) against Duquesne, Miller established himself as one of the more accurate shooters on the squad last season. He dipped below the 1150 mark (1149 against Army) in smallbore only once and helped lead the team to the near-perfect record. "Miller made a lot of progress in smallbore despite having never shot in the event before coming here to Navy and made our first team by Christmas. His scores early have been consistent to where they were last year." At the team NCAA Championship, hosted by Murray State, the Navy quartet of Jung, Albright, Miller and Luke Shank broke the school's NCAA-record score of 1537 with a 1540 clip in the air competition. A number of sophomores will be looking to move their way up the team rankings and make a name for themselves. This group includes Trey Buttler, Iain McLeod and Kevin Wilson. Navy's squad will include three freshmen looking to make an impact during their inaugural season. Billy Carson, Scott Lee and Josh Bettis may not possess the experience of the top four, but with time, they will acquire the knowledge necessary to compete at the collegiate level. Overall, the goals of being ranked higher than sixth at the end of the season and another berth at the NCAA Championship, as well as earning All-America honors, are within reach for the Navy rifle team in 2002-03. "We're pretty well balanced between air and smallbore this year," continued Kelley. "Being as good as we were last year is probably not going to be good enough because any quality team is improving every week. Everybody is getting better, so we'll have to do the same. I think we'll continue to see an improvement over the course of the season and by the time February comes around for the NCAA qualifier, we'll be in the hunt again to be a top-eight team nationally."