11/8/2002 - Rifle
Navy Rifle Squares Off at the President?s Trophy Match

The Navy rifle team will travel to West Point, N.Y., for the annual President's Trophy match Saturday morning against Air Force, Army, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine. It marks the first time all five academies will be represented in the competition. At the last President's Trophy match in which Navy participated, in 2000, Navy captured first place with a score of 6,156, besting the score of 6,080, 6,051 and 5,985 of Army, Air Force and Coast Guard, respectively. The Mids have opened the season with back-to-back victories against Norwich and at Virginia Military Institute. Sophomore Matt Albright (Shelton, Conn.) has recorded career-high smallbore scores in each match, while also attaining new personal standards in the air rifle and total score against Norwich. Albright also recently has been named to the USA Shooting National Development Team for the 2002-03 season. "I think this will be a very good competition - probably the most competitive in the history of the match," said Navy head coach Bill Kelley. "Navy, Army, and Coast Guard were all NCAA finalists last year, so that should set a high standard of performance. Air Force has some good recruits this year, and Merchant Marine is competing for the first time. It should be an exciting event where the winner will be determined by which team performs best when it counts. We're working hard for that to be Navy."