CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Navy rifle team (7-3) posted a pair of victories over the weekend in Charleston, S.C. at the Inouye Marksmanship Center on the campus of The Citadel. The Midshipmen defeated NC State (2-3) on Saturday by a score of 4,703-4,693 before besting weekend-host The Citadel (2-7) on Sunday, 4,714-4,624.
"The Navy rifle team had a great weekend," head coach
Mike Anti said of his team's performances. "Our entire travel team shot scores that they should be happy with and to continue to improve upon."
The Mids topped the 4,700-point plateau in both matches, marking the first time this season that Navy crossed the 4,700-point threshold.
The Midshipmen's win against the Wolfpack improved the Mids to 2-1 overall in the Great American Rifle Conference.
Navy will conclude fall competition with a pair of road matches in Ohio. The Midshipmen will travel to Akron, Ohio to take on Akron in a GARC match on Saturday, Nov. 19 (9:00 a.m.). The Mids close out the weekend in Columbus, Ohio against Ohio State on Sunday, Nov. 20 (9:00 a.m.). The matches will be final competitions for the Mids before returning to action in January.
Match 1 Recap: Navy 4,703, NC State 4,693
Navy opened up the weekend with a GARC victory over NC State, 4,703-4,693. The Midshipmen registered the top three shooters of the match as
Marleigh Duncan (Wake Forest, N.C.),
Clarissa Layland (Granbury, Texas), and
Parker Haydin (Joshua, Texas) finished in the top three spots. Duncan finished one point shy of tying her season-best performance, while Layland set a new personal best.
"Our first match on Saturday against NC State was a close match," Anti stated. "Both teams shooting season high scores with us narrowly beating them by 10 points. We shot an awesome smallbore match, tying our program record. Our air rifle performance was not quite at the same level but still finished with an overall score of 4,703.
Marleigh Duncan and
Clarissa Layland tied for MVP with identical total scores of 1,181."
Duncan and Layland tied with aggregate scores of 1,181, while Haydin was four points back in third place overall with a collective tally of 1,177.
Stephanie Milvain (Matthews, N.C.), who started in smallbore, posted a combined score of 1,171 to finish seventh overall.
Catherine Dely (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and
Joshua Potts (Ephrata, Pa.) closed out the top ten with scores of 1,155 and 1,154, respectively.
Mark Dely (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and
Deonte Hayes (Fort Mill, S.C.) posted overall scores of 1,152 and 1,147 to round out the scoring.
The Mids started the day by matching the program record in smallbore with a score of 2,346. Duncan led the way with a season-best score of 589, followed closely by Haydin and Layland who each notched scores of 588 in the event. Milvain turned in a score of 581, while Potts rounded out Navy's starters with a score of 573.
Catherine and
Mark Dely tied with smallbore tallies of 571 with Hayes carding a score of 564 to close out Navy's travel squad in the smallbore.
In air rifle, Layland paced the squad with a score of 593, while Duncan was one point back at 592. Milvain followed with a 590 to give the sophomore a new career high in the discipline. Haydin followed with a score of 589, while C.Dely and Hayes were next with scores of 584 and 583, respectively. Potts and M.Dely rounded out the shooters in air rifle with 581 apiece.
Match 2 Recap: Navy 4,714, The Citadel 4,624
On the second day of competition, Navy defeated match host The Citadel, 4,714-4,624. Haydin led the way, setting school records in smallbore (595) and aggregate (1,190) to lead all scorers. In addition, the Midshipmen posted the third-best team score in program history.
"On Sunday, against the Citadel again we had a very good smallbore score but this time backed it up with a solid air rifle performance with three of our athletes shooting 594 or better. Our stand out performance today came from freshman
Parker Haydin. He shot a 595 – a new individual program record – in smallbore and followed that up with a 595 in air. His total score of 1,190 also set the new program individual record and took the MVP honors.
Duncan (1,182), Potts (1,170), and Layland (1,168) followed Haydin to lead Navy to a sweep of the top four spots in the match. Hayes and Milvain registered score of 1,159 to finish seventh and eighth overall with M.Dely closing out the top 10 scores with an 1,149.
Haydin's program record score of 595 paced the Midshipmen in the smallbore. He was followed by Duncan and Potts who shot score of 588 and 581 in the event. Milvain posted a smallbore tally of 576, while M.Dely (575), Hayes (573), Layland (572), and C.Dely (565) followed in order.
Navy registered the top four air rifle performances on the day. Layland led the way with a 596, while Haydin was second with a 595. Duncan was third with a 594 to give the Mids three student-athletes with scores of 590 or higher. Potts missed the 590 plateau by one point, carding a score of 589, while Hayes was next with a score of 586 in air rifle. Milvain and C.Dely shot scores of 583 and 581, respectively, with M.Dely closing out the scoring with mark of 574.
