4/10/2003 - Rifle
Three Shooters Represent Navy Rifle at National Event
Three members of the Navy rifle team will participate in the Junior Olympic Shooting Championship Friday through Monday at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Sophomores Matt Albright (Shelton, Conn.), Mike Miller (Albuquerque, N.M.) and Kevin Wilson (Freeport, N.Y.) take aim at the most prestiguous Junior competition in the country. Each competitor will enter the championship in both air rifle and smallbore and will be aiming for a top-two spot in either gun. The top-two in each discipline automatically qualify for the U.S. Shooting National Development Team, of which Albright is already a member. Other bids to the team could be determined by an at-large selection by National Team head coach Dave Johnson.
"I'm really pleased all three have the opportunity to compete in both guns," said Navy head rifle coach Bill Kelley. "I wouldn't be surprised, and I would expect, to hear their names announced for the finals, which is the top-eight competitors."
This past season, the three sophomores were integral parts of Navy's 10-1 campaign, which suffered the lone setback to top-ranked and five-time defending NCAA champion Alaska-Fairbanks. Albright posted a variety of numbers unseen in the Navy history books, including setting the Mids' individual smallbore record. After initially tying the mark of 1175 in the fourth match of the season at MIT, he continued to show dominance in the discipline and broke the record twice later in the season. His score of 1179 in the last regular-season match versus Canisius set the new standard, as he maintained a season average of 1169.5.
Miller also played an important role for the Mids this season, being a part of the scoring quartet at numerous matches. He finished the season with an average of 1147.4 in the smallbore and 383.3 in the air rifle, which included season highs of 1155 (at Coast Guard) and 389 (vs. Canisius), respectively. He also joined Albright as a member of Navy's foursome in the air rifle discipline at the NCAA Championship. The quartet recorded a sixth-place finish among the eight teams at the championship, as Albright shot a 386 and Miller recorded a 375.
Wilson also played a part on Navy's success this season, recording career-best scores of 1141 (at Army) in the smallbore and 383 (vs. Alaska-Fairbanks) in the air rifle. His season average of 380.1 in the air rifle was a 10-and-a-half point improvement over his average last season.
