MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – The Navy rifle team (10-5) is currently sixth overall in the team standings after firing a 2,298 in smallbore action at the NCAA National Championships on Saturday afternoon to start the event at the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown, W. Va.
The final day of the national championship begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning with air rifle. There will be two relays of air rifle, followed by air rifle finals to conclude the 2018-19 rifle season.
The Midshipmen matched their smallbore total from two weeks ago at the GARC Championship with 2,298 points, which also matched their season low.
Senior captain
Josh Watson (Enterprise, Ala.) shot a team-best 577 during the second relay of the day to lead Navy in the discipline. Watson recorded a perfect 10-shot segment for the Midshipmen in his final 10 shots in the prone position. In the prone portion of his round, he totaled 199 points, just missing a perfect 200 during that segment of his smallbore round.
Kestrel Kuhne (Jr., Everett, Pa.) finished the day with 575 points and started strong with 391 points over the first 40 shots, which included 198 out of 200 points during prone shooting. However, during her final 20 shots, she totaled 184 points out of a possible 200 to finish with a 575.
Daniel Enger (So., Walla Walla, Wash.) and
Michael Zanti (Fr., Norfolk, Va.) both ended strong for Navy and posted a pair of 573s to finish out the counting scores for the Midshipmen.
Enger recorded a trio of 94s in his first four 10-shot segments but notched a 98, 97 and a 96 during three of the final four segments. Enger notched the highest standing score for the Midshipmen with 194 points out of 200. Zanti joined Enger as the only Mids to break 190 during the final 20 shots of smallbore and Zanti also recorded a 100 during his first 10 shots of prone shooting.
Torrance Kang (So., Columbia, Md.) was the final shooter to compete for Navy and she totaled 570 points during smallbore competition on Saturday. Kang's best 20-shot segment was in prone shooting after she finished with 196 points during that portion of her round.
Watson placed 24th overall in the 44-shooter field, while Kuhne finished 29th in the field. Enger and Zanti finished back-to-back in 32nd and 33rd. Kang rounded out the Midshipmen in the standings with a 38th-place finish.
Elizabeth Marsh of TCU won the individual national title in smallbore after compiling 588 points in her relay and she then followed it up with 456.9 points in the final to claim the individual crown.
In the team standings, TCU and host West Virginia finished with 2,331 points, but the Horned Frog lead the race for the overall national title by 0.015 points. TCU scored 2,331.127, while the Mountaineers finished the day with 2,331.112 points.
Defending national champion Kentucky is third overall with 2,322 points and Murray State is fourth with a score of 2,320 points. The three participating service academies are all sitting in order in fifth, sixth and seven. Air Force is fifth with 2,319 points and Navy is in sixth after totaling 2,298 points. Army is seventh overall with 2,295 points and Alaska Fairbanks rounds out the field in eighth place with a 2,287.
Air rifle competition begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning at the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown, W. Va.
