Feb. 5, 2011

WEST POINT, N.Y. - In its attempt to return the Star to Annapolis, the Navy rifle team fell short to Army by 48 points, 5816-5768, on Saturday afternoon in West Point, N.Y. Navy is now 6-1 on the year while Army improved to 7-5.

Army won the smallbore competition, 2895-2854, and then used a seven-point margin to take the air rifle competition, 2921-2914.

"I'm disappointed we didn't prevail," said Navy head coach Bill Kelley. "Our score was solid and right in the range we've been shooting in, but Army just had a great day. I felt we had pretty decent performances; air rifle was strong, as usual, and our smallbore score wasn't bad, but not as good as we're capable of doing."

Chris Burleson and Ryan Williams led the way in smallbore for Navy, as they totaled scores of 578 and 574, respectively. Burleson's 578 tied for third in the smallbore competition as Army's Kelly Buck (586) and Will Mengon (582) took the top two spots. Alison Lankes totaled a 571 to post Navy's third-best score in the competition.

Kenan Wang (567) and Karina Schmidt (564) rounded out Navy's top-five.

In air rifle, Williams tied Army's Richard Calvin for first place in the competition as each scored 588 points. Buck edged Burleson by just one point for second place, 586-585. 588. Lankes was Navy's third-best scorer with a 581, while Wang and Allison Paulson followed with 580 each.

"I felt like we had solid performances all the way around," Kelley said. "We stepped up today, but got in the way of a buzz saw. Our kids performed well, but it was Army's day."

The Midshipmen will return to action on Feb. 12 when it hosts John Jay.