March 7, 2009

PALMYRA, Pa. -- The Navy rifle team won its 10th straight smallbore title and sixth straight air rifle title, defeating Akron in both disciplines, posting a nine-point win in air rifle and a five-point triumph in smallbore. The Mids outscored the Zips, 4558 - 4544, to run their record to 17-1 overall, the best mark in school history.

"Obviously, it was not a great performance for us, but it is nice to be called conference champions," said Navy head coach Bill Kelley. "There were a couple of reasons for our lackluster showing. One is that we shot on paper targets and you need to adjust for that and use different techniques. The second and most logical is simply we were looking past this weekend to the NCAAs. That is a very dangerous thing to do and it almost cost us today."

Navy was led in smallbore by Chris Burleson's 571. Both Lisa Kunzelman and Alex Karacsonyi shot 564s and Kenan Wang tallied a 555.

In air rifle, Kunzelman fired a 585, while Karacsonyi recorded a 576. Burleson scored a 575 and Alison Lankes shot a 568.

"We can now look forward to NCAAs and hope we can make some noise next weekend," added Kelley. "We will have a couple of days to train, and go down there and try to win the thing."

Navy will compete at the NCAA Championhips next Friday and Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas, on the campus of Texas Christian University.

# GO NAVY #