March 11, 2011

COLUMBUS, Ga. -- Senior captain Chris Burleson led Navy on day one of the NCAA Rifle Championships with a 578 and Navy totaled a smallbore score of 2284 during Friday's action at the NCAA Rifle Championships.

The Mids are in seventh place, 52 points behind day-one leader, Kentucky, which tallied an impressive 2336. The Wildcats had three shooters in the top 13 during the smallbore discipline. West Virginia (2329), Jacksonville State (2315), last year's defending champion TCU (2313), Alaska-Fairbanks (2299), Murray State (2296), Navy (2284) and Army (2273) rounded out the top eight teams.

Burleson, who is hoping to become a three-time smallbore All-American when the NRA releases its All-American teams tomorrow night, paced Navy with a 578. Kenan Wang and Alison Lankes each tallied a 569, while Ryan Williams completed Navy's scoring with a 568.

The Mids were hoping to carry over its success from two weeks ago at the MAC Championship, when it shot a season-best smallbore score of 2316, but the Mids were not able to regain that form, shooting 32 points lower than that performance.

Navy will now turn its focus to Saturday's air rifle discipline, where Navy has excelled this year. The Mids scored a 2346 two weeks ago and the Mids have placed in the top three of the air rifle discipline in two of the last three NCAA Championships.

Action gets underway at Columbus State University on Saturday, beginning at 8:00 am.

# GO NAVY #