2/15/2002 - Rifle
Rifle In Seek Of Ninth-Straight N-Star Saturday
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The Navy rifle team (7-1) will be concluding its dual-match season Saturday morning at 8 a.m. against arch-rival Army (4-3) in the teams' annual battle for the N-Star at the Bancroft Hall rifle range.
"We're really looking forward to the match," said third-year Navy rifle coach Bill Kelley, who will look to lead his squad to its ninth-consecutive N-Star. "We will be shooting against a much-improved Army team from past years, and we expect a strong competition.
"But I have a tremdendous amount of confidence in the leardership & character of this Navy rifle team. They've performed well under pressure, and demonstrated the ability to post their best scores when needed, like they did in the NCAA qualifying match last week. They've had a good week of practice, and I expect Navy to have another mark in the win column."
The Mids had their best match of the season during the NCAA qualifier, defeating Duquesne in a dual match in the process and taking home the National Rifle Association Collegiate Sectional, 6179-5960.
Navy has appeared in 10-straight NCAA Championships, and will anxiously await to see if their 4635-4453 victory in smallbore competition and 1544-1507 victory in air rifle against the Dukes will qualify them for the March 14-16 NCAA Championship at Murray (Ky.) State. Army's designated NCAA qualifying match is this weekend's encounter with the Mids.
The Mids were just single-digits away from breaking a trio of school records. Navy's 6179 aggregate score, its best of the season, is four points off the school record of 6183, while the Mids were three and nine points away, respectively, from topping their previous bests in smallbore and air rifle.
Combining to shoot Navy's four-man smallbore score were seniors Luke Shank (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Bill Tolson (Oak Harbor, Wash.), as well as freshmen Mike Miller (Albuquerque, N.M.) and Matt Albright (Shelton, Conn.). Shank and Tolson each shot 1164, while Miller and Albright had point totals of 1160 and 1147, respectively.
Shank, who earned top honors for his smallbore performance by virtue of having a higher center-target count than Tolson, also garnered similar accolades for his 391 performance in air rifle. Miller also had a 391 mark in the discipline, while Marta Jung (So./Reno, Nev.) (386) and Albright (376) rounded out the four-man air rifle team for the Mids.
Though not counting towards the team's scores, James Kauber (Jr./Burlington, Wash.) and Walter Warren (Sr./San Antonio, Texas) both had encouraging performances that could figure prominently in this weekend's five-man-per-discipline format with the Black Knights. Kauber posted a 387 mark in air rifle, while Warren scored a personal-best 1163 points in smallbore.
