5/27/2003 - Rifle
Albright's Score Breaks National Record
Sophomore Matt Albright (Shelton, Conn.), a member of the Navy rifle team, has recently been crowned as the national champion of the 2003 Junior Conventional Indoor National Championship in the smallbore discipline by the National Rifle Association (NRA).
Albright's score reflects his total of a Feb. 1 NRA Sectional match that featured a number of the top Juniors from the Mid-Atlantic Region. After completion of the match, all scores from all the regions across the country had to be submitted to the NRA for official review and a complete listing.
Albright posted a score of 593 (out of a possible 600) in the half-course competition to pace the field of 206 shooters from across the country. His total broke the Naval Academy record in the discipline for a 60-shot round, as he eclipsed Joe Johnson and Chris Robinson who each recorded a 583. Robinson's total was also shot during an NRA Sectional.
The previous national record was 590, set by three shooters (Daniel Jordan in 1997, Matt Emmons in 1999 and Sarah Blakeslee in 2002), each of whom are on the U.S. National Team.
He also shot a national second-place score of 392 in the air rifle competition.
On the season, Albright finished as the top Navy shooter with season averages of 1169.5 (out of 1200) in smallbore and 386.6 (out of 400) in air rifle. His smallbore mark of 1179 versus Canisius not only set a new personal best, but also broke the Academy record. He also set a new career-best air rifle score of 393 against the Golden Griffins for a match aggregate score of 1572, another Academy standard. He earned NCAA Second-Team All-America honors in both disciplines after finishing as the seventh-place shooter in the smallbore (1173) at the NCAA Championship and helping to guide the Mids to a sixth-place team finish in the air rifle.
Albright has been awarded a gold national championship medallion and the Molt Trophy Plaque, which signifies "the high-scoring Junior in the NRA Sectional-National Indoor Three-Position Smallbore Championship." The trophy was originally given in 1966 to the "high-scoring girl", but was changed in 1981 to reflect its current designation.
Also entered into the NRA Sectional was sophomore Mike Miller (Albuquerque, N.M.). After the review by the NRA, Miller finished fifth (580) in smallbore and 10th (385) in air rifle.
"It's certainly an exciting accomplishment," said Navy head coach Bill Kelley. "It's a reward for all the hard work he has put in this year at the range. If you look at the people who have won the championship in the past, it's a who's who of the greatest American rifle shooters in the last-20 years. There's many nationally recognizable names on the list, and Albright certainly deserves tremendous recognition to be right up there with them."
Albright's accomplishment marks the second time in Academy history that a Midshipman has won the award, as Will Suggs (1987-90) won it in 1988. Suggs was Navy's last four-time All-America selection. Also on the list is 1983 winner Dave Johnson, the current head coach for the U.S. National Team. Both Suggs and Johnson recorded a score of 586 in their respective competition.
