March 12, 2010

• 2010 NCAA Rifle Championship Central

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Navy fired a 2288 to finish in seventh place in the smallbore discipline at the 2010 NCAA Championships on Friday afternoon.

The Mids, however, put themselves in position to move up in the aggregate standings tomorrow in the air rifle discipline, Navy's stronger of the two guns. The Mids trail leader Alaska-Fairbanks by 32 points and are just eight points behind Kentucky's score of 2296, which was good for fourth place through smallbore.

"We did fairly well today. We were a little above our team average, so that was good to see," said Navy head coach Bill Kelley. "The good news is that nobody self-destructed. Obviously, smallbore has been our weaker gun, but we put ourselves in position to make a move tomorrow. We enter tomorrow pretty hopeful, and hope we can make a pretty good move.

Chris Burleson led Navy with a 581, while Alison Lankes, Kenan Wang and Ryan Williams all recorded 569s.

Burleson was tied for seventh after the preliminary round, then had an outstanding performance in the finals to finish the 2010 NCAA smallbore championships in third place. Burleson recorded the second-highest score in the finals with a 101.5 to jump into a third-place finish with a 682.5, just two-tenths behind Alaska-Fairbanks' Patrik Sartz and 2.5 points behind winner Sarah Scherer of TCU.

"Chris had a tremendous final, moving from seventh to third," said Kelley. "It was a big-time performance and we are very happy for him to bring home the bronze. He was outstanding in the finals."

Navy will conclude play at the NCAA Rifle Championships tomorrow morning with the air rifle discipline. Navy has finished second in the air rifle discipline for two straight seasons.

TEAM STANDINGS

1) Alaska-Fairbanks       2320
2) Texas Christian        2314
3) West Virginia          2308
4) Kentucky               2296
5) Nebraska               2295
6) Army                   2291
7) Navy                   2288
8) Murray State           2272

# GO NAVY #