PORT CLINTON, Ohio – The eighth-ranked Navy rifle team (6-6, 2-3 in the GARC) concluded competition at the USA Shooting Winter Airgun Championships Sunday with Clarissa Layland (So., Granbury, Texas) and Michael Zanti (Sr., Norfolk, Va.) finishing among the top-eight performers in their respective divisions.

Despite not qualifying for the finals of the women's competition, Stephanie Milvain (Fr., Matthews, N.C.) shot a personal-best score and McKenzie Shedd (Fr., Burke, Va.) totaled marks of 614 and higher in each of her final two days of competition.  

Additionally, both Layland and Zanti earned bids to the qualification finals for the USA Shooting Team and the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup slated to held in the summer of 2022.

"All of our athletes have very good performances," said head coach Mike Anti. "Clarissa [Layland] and Mike [Zanti] qualified for the final after three days of competition. Clarissa qualified sixth going into the final and Mike qualified fourth going into the final.

"Clarissa ended in seventh and Mike finished in sixth. Both Clarissa and Stephanie [Milvain] shot personal bests during the competition. This was a great opportunity for our athletes to compete against some of the best shooters in the nation. This is a high-level event which will help our athletes going into the second half of our NCAA season after the winter break."

Zanti led the way for the Midshipmen by improving his score over each of the first three days of competition, posting a day one score of 620.1 followed by marks of 623 and 624.2 on days two and three, respectively, to qualify for the Camp Perry Men's Air Rifle final.

In the final, the senior finished sixth and qualified for the aforementioned qualification final with a score of 161.6.

Layland improved her overall score over each day of the event, opening the competition with a score of 618 followed by a 618.1 on day two and a career-best 621.7 on day three to qualify for the Camp Perry Women's Air Rifle final.

The sophomore posted a score of 142.5 in the final, good enough to join Zanti among those advancing to the next stage of qualification for the USA Shooting Team and ISSF World Cup.

Milvain opened the Winter Airgun Championships with a score of 609.8 prior to improving that score by just under five points at 614.4 on day two. The final day of competition saw the freshman tally a mark of 612.1, capping off a solid performance in which she finished no lower than the top-40 performers in the field.

Rounding out the competitors at the championship for the Mids was Shedd, who also saw a strong improvement in scoring from day one to day two of the event. The freshman opened the competition with a score of 611.1 before improving her mark by 4.6 points at 615.7.

On the final day of competition, Shedd turned in another solid score of 614.2 that secured top-25 performances on both day two and three of the championship for the newcomer.  

UP NEXT
Navy is set to return to action January 22 with a GARC match against West Virginia at the Bancroft Hall Rifle Range slated to begin at 9 a.m.