3/13/2003 - Rifle
Navy Rifle Aims for NCAA Crowns

The Navy rifle team will compete for the 13th-consecutive year at the NCAA Championship Friday and Saturday at the Tronsrue Marksmanship Center in West Point, N.Y. The Mids finished the season with a 10-1 record, with the only blemish coming to top-ranked Alaska-Fairbanks.

Navy's air rifle team shot a 1547 against SUNY-Maritime to qualify for the 13-team field this weekend. Captain James Kauber (Burlington, Wash.), junior Marta Jung (Reno, Nev.) and sophomores Matt Albright (Shelton, Conn.) and Mike Miller (Albuquerque, N.M.) will be the Mids' representives in the discipline, with an expected time on the line of 1 p.m. Saturday.

On Friday, Kauber and Albright will participate in the individual competition. Kauber shot a career-best tying 392 in the air rifle against SUNY-Maritime to earn a spot among the top-12 shooters in the discipline, while Albright, who shot a Naval Academy-record 1179 against Canisius in the season finale, will be one of 11 aiming for the individual smallbore crown.

"We've been training hard over the last week and a half," said Navy head coach Bill Kelley. "We'll be well prepared, and I feel the team is ready. For the two individuals, it's already a huge accomplishment for them to make it as far as they have, considering the handful of shooters in each discipline."

Kauber will be participating in his first individual NCAA competition, while Albright has made the elite field in back-to-back years after posting then-career highs of 1164 in the smallbore and 384 in the air rifle during last year's competition.