MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The Navy rifle team (8-7, 2-5 in the GARC) registered its second-best team performance of the 2022-23 season on Saturday as the Midshipmen tallied a team score of 4,709 points at West Virginia (15-3, 8-0) at the WVU Shell Building.
Parker Haydin (Joshua, Texas) and
Marleigh Duncan (Wake Forest, N.C.) led the way for the Mids, finishing third and fourth overall, respectively.
The host Mountaineers remained undefeated in Great American Rifle Conference (GARC) competition posting a collective score of 4,742.
"We had a very good match today against WVU," head coach
Mike Anti said. "
Parker Haydin and
Marleigh Duncan had very impressive performances in both events leading our team to our second highest total team score for the season.
Stephanie Milvain also had an impressive performance in smallbore with a score of 588 which led our team and was the third highest score in the competition.
Deonte Hayes backed up his personal best performance in air rifle from our last competition by setting another personal best score in smallbore with a 579. I was very proud of how our team competed today and we look forward to our competition against Army in our Star Match this coming weekend."
Haydin registered an aggregate score of 1,185 to close out the match in third place. In air rifle, he notched a season-best score of 598, tying for the fourth-best performance in program history. The freshman tied for first in the air rifle competition with West Virginia's top two performers – Mary Tucker and Molly McGhin. In smallbore, Haydin posted a score of 587 to finish second among Navy shooters and fourth overall.
Just behind Haydin was Duncan, who posted an aggregate score of 1,185 to finish the match in fourth place. The sophomore tied Haydin with a 587 in the smallbore, while tallying a score of 594 in air rifle.
Stephanie Milvain (Matthews, N.C.) finished third among the Navy starters. The sophomore posted a score of 588 in the smallbore, while notching a score of 586 in air rifle for an aggregate score of 1,174. Her performances in the smallbore and aggregate were season-bests for Milvain.
Clarissa Layland (Granbury, Texas) and
Deonte Hayes (Fort Mills, S.C.) tied with an aggregate score of 1,167. Layland carded scores of 574 (SB) and 593 (AR), while Hayes posted scores of 579 (SB) – career best – and 588 (AR).
Joshua Potts (Ephrata, Pa.), who was a starter in smallbore, rounded out the scoring for the Midshipmen with a combined score of 1,154, carding tallies of 566 (SB) and 590 (AR).
Mason MacKenzie (Henderson, Md.),
Catherine Dely (Fort Wayne, Ind.), and
Mark Dely (Fort Wayne, Ind.) also competed during the match. MacKenzie registered an aggregate score of 1,143, while the Dely siblings tied a total of 1,139 points each.
For West Virginia, the duo of Tucker and McGhin led the way. Tucker swept the competition with scores of 597 (SB), 598 (AR), and 1,195 (Agg) to finish first, while McGhin was second throughout the day with performances of 590 (SB), 598 (AR), and 1,188 (Agg).
Navy is set to return to action Saturday, Feb. 4 as it hosts rival Army in the annual Star Match, which is part of the overall Army-Navy Star series presented by USAA. The match is slated to begin at 9:00 a.m. and live results will be available.
