Nov. 7, 2009

WEST POINT, N.Y. -- The Navy rifle team showed improvement, but fell by a mere five points to Army in Saturday's President's Trophy. The Mids tallied a five-person score of 5784 to place second to Army's 5789. Air Force was third at 5781. Coast Guard's score was not available at time of press.

"This was the closest finish ever between three very good teams," said Navy head coach Bill Kelley. "I felt we performed well today, but just came up short against a good Army team. It's disappointing when you come up just short. We prepared hard and we'll get back on the line in practice this week."

Navy's four-person NCAA Qualifying score in smallbore was 2290. Chris Burleson led the Mids with a 577. Liz Leckie scored a 575, Kenan Wang tallied a 573 and Ryan Williams netted a 565. Alison Lankes also contributed to the scoring team with a 577.

Navy's four-person NCAA score in air rifle was led by Burleson with a 591. Leckie added a 583, Wang tallied a 582 and Lankes shot a 581. Ryan Williams added a 580 on the scoring team.

"The score will be representative of an away match for NCAA qualifying," said Kelley. "We did win air rifle, but were in just too big of a hole after smallbore. We just couldn't recover. I was happy with air rifle and having all five scores above 580 is remarkable. I thought we showed a lot of heart today."

Navy will compete next against John Jay on Sunday, November 22, in Annapolis.

# GO NAVY #