3/18/2002 - Rifle
Four Rifle Athletes Named To CRCA All-Academic Team

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Fresh off a sixth-place finish Saturday at the 2002 NCAA Rifle Championship, the Navy rifle team learned recently that four key members of its team were named to the Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association (CRCA) All-Academic Team.

"At a service academy, where the institution is academically intense, four of our starting shooters received this honor," said Navy head coach Bill Kelley, whose club had a 10-1 dual-match record during the regular season. "I think winning this award demonstrates the kids' commitment to the sport and to their development as junior officers in the United States Navy and Marine Corps."

Headlining the list of Navy award winners is team captain Luke Shank (Sr./Fort Wayne, Ind.). He received this award four times in his career, and is a two-time NCAA All-America. Shank, a quantitative economics major, will begin his career as a Naval Flight Officer upon graduation from the Naval Academy in May.

Sophomore Marta Jung (Reno, Nev.) and junior James Kauber (Burlington, Wash.) are both receiving the sport's top academic honor for the second-consecutive year. Jung, an aerospace engineering major, was not able to compete in the three-position smallbore discipline all year due to a knee injury. However, she was able to shoot in the standing air rifle discipline all year, and fired a team-high 389 (out of a possible 400) in the NCAA Championship Saturday.

Kauber has positioned himself among the nation's top shooters in his three years at Navy. The oceanography major received honorable-mention All-America honors from the NCAA in 2001, and he boasted a 4.0 grade-point average last semester.

Rounding out the Midshipmen's honorees is freshman Mike Miller (Albuquerque, N.M.). In his first semester at the Naval Academy, the former Junior ROTC three-position air rifle champion, like Kauber, registered a 4.0 grade-point average.