WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Navy rifle team (9-7, 4-4 GARC) completed competition at the 2022 Great American Rifle Conference Championship Saturday, finishing tied for third in the air rifle discipline with 2,374 points along with recording a fourth-place finish overall with 4,707 points on the weekend.
 
"We had a very constant performance in air rifle today," said head coach Mike Anti. "Our team tied Ole Miss for third place and had all five of our counters above a 590. I believe we had a very successful championship in a high-pressure competition. We look forward to competing at the NCAA Championships in two weeks."
 
Marleigh Duncan (Fr., Wake Forest, N.C.) was the top overall shooter for the Midshipmen, placing fifth in the overall individual standings with 1,184 points while Michael Zanti (Sr., Norfolk, Va.) finished seventh overall at 1,183 points.
 
Zanti finished as the 11th-best air rifle shooter in the competition Saturday, recording an outstanding mark of 595 while Duncan tallied 592 points.
 
The fourth-place overall finish was the Midshipmen's best since finishing third at the 2018 GARC Championship, in addition to posting their best finishes in air rifle since 2019 and smallbore since 2020.
 
Along with the aforementioned efforts of Duncan and Zanti, Mark Amdahl (Sr., Albuquerque, N.M.) posted a 594-point air rifle score to finish with an overall tally of 1,183 points. Following behind Amdahl was Clarissa Layland (So., Granbury, Texas) who posted a score of 593 points Saturday to finish with a new career-high total of 1,166.
 
McKenzie Shedd (Fr., Burke, Va.) shot a 591 Saturday, falling just five points shy of her career-best mark in the discipline. The newcomer finished the weekend with a 1,168-point overall mark while Stephanie Milvain (Fr., Matthews, N.C.) rounded out the Navy shooters with a new career-best air rifle score of 591 and an overall mark of 1,168  
 
Reigning national champion Kentucky claimed the overall GARC title with 4,735 points while also winning the smallbore team championship. West Virginia claimed the air rifle team title with 2,387 points on the afternoon and finished second in the team and smallbore standings.
 
The Wildcats also claimed the individual title as Allison Buesseler fired an overall mark of 1,187 in addition to posting 589 points in smallbore and 598 in air rifle. West Virginia's Akihito Shimizu was crowned the air rifle individual champion with a score of 599.
 
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Navy will now turn its attention to preparing for the upcoming NCAA Championship that is slated to be hosted by Air Force March 11-12.