March 8, 2007

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy rifle team begins its quest for its first-ever NCAA title this weekend as the Mids, and seven other teams, will compete at the NCAA Championships on Friday and Saturday in Fairbanks, Alaska. The Mids are making their 16th straight appearance in the championships and are looking for their first-ever NCAA title. Navy's highest finish at the NCAA Championships came in 1990 and 1999, a pair of second-place finishes.

"Alaska-Fairbanks is definitely the favorite, but anything can happen at the NCAA Championships," said Navy head coach Bill Kelley. "There have been cases of seniors getting senioritis and not shooting well and freshmen shooting lights out. The good thing about the NCAA rifle championships is that everyone has an equal shot. Getting here is the tough battle, but once you are here, you have as good of a shot as anyone. We think our chances are as good as anyone's."

Navy is coming off a MAC title last weekend, in which the Mids shot very well in air rifle, but not as strong in smallbore. For the Mids to make a run at the national title, the Mids need a strong start in smallbore on Friday.

"We have to get off to a good start and perform well in smallbore on Friday," said Kelley. "We just can't dig ourselves a deep hole and hope to rally in air rifle. Our air rifle has been as good as anyone in the country, so we need a good smallbore performance to give us a shot on Saturday."

Kelley also hopes Navy's experience helps out as well. Four of Navy's five shooters this weekend competed at last year's NCAA Championships. Two of them, senior Sarah Bergman and Chris Schneider, can become Navy's first four-time All-Americans since 1990 with strong performances this weekend.

"They both seem very hungry and intense to me, which has been different than year's past," added Kelley. "Chris (Schneider) has been training as hard as he ever has and Sarah (Bergman) has seemed very intense in practice. They know this is their last shot. They know what their job is as leaders on this team."

Junior Josh Albright and sophomores Lisa Kunzelman and Alex Karacsonyi will round out Navy's roster.

"They have all performed well under pressure and that's what we are expecting them to do this weekend," said Kelley. "They are experienced shooters and we are expecting them to do their job."

The other seven teams competing are Alaska-Fairbanks, Jacksonville State, Kentucky, Murray State, Nebraska, Texas Christian and Army.

# GO NAVY #