ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy rifle team (1-1) totaled 4,664 points during their season-opening event of the season where they lost to defending national champions TCU (2-0) – who scored 4,699 points – but defeated VMI (0-3) after the Keydets scored 4,514 points on Saturday at the
Bancroft Hall Rifle Range.
"For the first match of the season, we had a decent performance," head coach
Mike Anti said. "I was very pleased with our smallbore performance but our air rifle result was a bit disappointing. We had a number of very good individual results but in order to post a very high score we need all team members performing at their peak. Competing against TCU, who won the NCAA National Championship last year, will expose some expose some weaknesses that might not be apparent in training. We have identified those weaknesses and we will focus on overcoming them in the next couple of weeks."
Kestrel Kuhne (Sr., Everett, Pa.) picked up where she left off last season and had the highest score for the Midshipmen on Saturday. Kuhne started the year with a 1,169, which was fifth overall in the field.
Gabriella Mayes (So., Rio Rancho, N.M.) finished just behind Kuhne after firing a 1,164, which set a new career-high.
Kuhne had the top smallbore score for Navy with a 584, which was the second-highest score among all shooters. Mayes shot a career-best in smallbore with a 580 as she and Kuhne were the only Mids to break 580 in the discipline.
Torrance Kang (Jr., Columbia, Md.) just missed the 580 benchmark with a 579 over her 60 shots in smallbore.
Mark Amdahl (So., Albuquerque, N.M.) recorded the final counting score for Navy in smallbore with a 571 as the Midshipmen totaled 2,314 points in the event.
In air rifle,
Michael Zanti (So., Norfolk, Va.) rebounded from a 569 in smallbore to fire a 592 in air rifle to pace the Midshipmen in the discipline and place third in the field. Amdahl was a point shy of hitting 590 for the third time in his career and posted a 589. Kuhne finished with a 585, while the Kang and Mayes each shot 584s in air rifle with one of the scores counting towards Navy's 2,350 in air rifle. As a non-starter,
Luke Knollinger (Jr., Valley Grove, W. Va.) was a point shy of his career-high in air rifle at 587.
Navy's 4,664 points matched its total from last year's season opener against TCU and VMI, where the Midshipmen also split results at home in 2018.
TCU had the top four overall shooters in the match with each of the four being the only competitors in the field to post aggregate scores over 1,170. Kristen Hemphill led the field with an aggregate score of 1,178 points and she also led in air rifle with a 595. Liz Marsh was second in the field with an overall score of 1,175 and she had the highest smallbore score at 586.
The Horned Frogs finished with a score of 2,333 in smallbore and a 2,366 in air rifle. For VMI, it tallied a 2,242 in smallbore and scored a 2,272 in air rifle. VMI also had its women's team shoot at the event and totaled 4,351 points.
Navy is back in action on Saturday, October 12 when it hosts Memphis at 8:30 a.m.
