ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Ninth-ranked Navy rifle (8-7, 3-4 GARC) concludes its regular-season schedule on Saturday against Army (3-4, 3-4 GARC) in the annual Star Match. Competition from the Bancroft Hall Rifle Range begins at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning.
 
The rifle matchup on Saturday is set to be the 11th Star contest in the Army-Navy Star Series, presented by USAA. Navy currently holds a 6-3-1 edge over Army in the Star Series with the Midshipmen earning Star wins in sprint football, women's soccer, men's cross country, men's and women's swimming and diving and football.
 
Coming into the weekend, Navy moved to ninth overall in the NCAA qualification standings and sit just one spot outside the top eight to qualify for the NCAA Championship. The Midshipmen are just 2.33 points behind both Nebraska and Ole Miss for the eighth and final NCAA qualification spot with Army lurking just 1.67 points behind Navy. All 30 teams in the country still have their NCAA Qualifier match in three weeks with the qualifier total making up 50 percent of the NCAA qualification total.
 
On the season, Navy ranks seventh in the country with an aggregate average of 4,662.5, which is backed by the seventh-best air rifle score at 2,356.4. The Midshipmen also have a top-10 smallbore average at 2,306.1, which ranks ninth in the country.
 
Gabriella Mayes has paced the Midshipmen during the 2019-20 season and leads the team in all three scoring categories. The sophomore has compiled an air rifle average of 589.8, which was boosted by setting the program record last time out with a 597 against Nebraska two weeks ago. Mayes is also averaging 576.2 in smallbore to go along with a 1,166.0 aggregate average.
 
Navy has four individuals averaging over 1,160 points this season. Michael Zanti is second on the team at 1,163.7 and Torrance Kang is just behind at 1,163.5. Mark Amdahl is nearing the 1,163 average with his average of 1,162.9. Senior captain Kestrel Kuhne is on the brink of averaging 1,160 points for the season with her average of 1,159.2. 
 
Army has two shooters among the top 25 in aggregate average with Clayton Hanson ranking 17th with an average of 1,171.5 and Kaitlyn Kutz is 23rd with her average of 1,168.0. Hanson leads the Black Knights in smallbore average at 582.1 and Kutz is the team leader in air rifle at 590.4. The junior duo of Hanson and Kutz are the only two individuals for Army to average at least 1,160 for the season and the Black Knights' third-highest aggregate average comes from Lauren McMahan at 1,158.9.
 
As a team, Army is averaging 4,658.1 for the season, which includes a 2,306.4 in smallbore and a 2,351.8 in air rifle. This past weekend, the Black Knights split matches against Akron and West Virginia. Army fired a season-high 4,673 in a win against Akron but shot its third-lowest score of the season in a loss to West Virginia.
 
During the 2019 Star Match in West Point, N.Y., Navy beat Army for the Star, 5,846-5,822, and the Midshipmen also posted a season-best 4,680 in NCAA scoring to help them qualify for the national championship last spring. Kestrel Kuhne led all competitors in the match with a total score of 1,176 points.