March 2, 2008

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The Navy rifle team recorded a strong air rifle performance in helping the Mids to a 4596 - 4547 victory over Akron in the MAC Championship on Saturday at MIT. The Mids move to 9-2 overall, heading into the NCAA Championships in two weeks at Army.

After a slow start in smallbore, Navy picked it up in the air rifle discipline outscoring the Zips by 38 points to win the MAC title.

"I was reasonably pleased with the air rifle score, considering we shot without Lisa Kunzelman (at the U.S. Olympic Trials)," said Navy head coach Bill Kelley. "Not sure what the issue was with our smallbore score. Maybe we were looking ahead to the NCAA Championships or the paper targets got to us, but it was touch-and-go after Josh Albright's score. We'll get back to practice and figure out how to get better."

In smallbore, Navy outscored Akron, 2267 - 2256. Albright led Navy with a 578, Chris Burleson scored a 567, Monica Amagna tallied a 564 and Alison Lankes scored a 558.

Navy then outdistanced the Zips in air rifle, 2329 - 2291. Burleson led Navy with a 586, Albright followed with a 583, Amagna contributed a 581 and Lankes scored a 579.

Navy will be in action on March 14-15 at the NCAA Championships being hosted by Army.

# GO NAVY #