ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy rifle team (9-7, 3-5 GARC) swept the top five spots on the leaderboard to post a 5,880-5,833 victory over Army (1-8, 0-6 GARC) in the annual Star Match on Saturday at the Bancroft Hall Rifle Range. The victory marks the fourth time in the last five seasons the Midshipmen have defeated the Black Knights in the annual Star Match, which is part of the Army-Navy Star Series presented by USAA.
Navy also cracked the 4,700-point plateau with a score of 4,711 in the NCAA Championship scoring format. The 4,711 points is the second-most points for the Mids this season, falling just three points shy of the season-best total of 4,714 set against the Citadel back in November.
"Our team had a great day," head coach
Mike Anti said after the match. "No matter what the season stats say prior to our match with Army, it always seems to be a close competition. Army always brings their 'A' game when we shoot against them, which means we had better bring ours to beat them. Our athletes did just that shooting our second highest score of the season. We now have a couple of weeks to prepare for the NCAA Qualifier.
"I am very proud of our team," Anti continued. "They put in the work prior to this match and never assumed this would be an easy win. We had a number of outstanding performances today but a few really stand out.
Marleigh Duncan and
Parker Haydin led the team and tied for individual total score. Marleigh won the tie by shooting more center shots during the match. For her winning performance, she was awarded the Josh Watson Award which goes to the Navy athlete with the highest overall score. This is the second year in a row that she has won this award."
Marleigh Duncan (Wake Forest, N.C.) and
Parker Haydin (Joshua, Texas) tied for the match lead with 1,182 total points. Duncan shot a 588 in smallbore with a 594 in air rifle, while Haydin was consistent with a tally of 591 in each discipline. Duncan's score of 1,182 tied her season-high and was six points shy of tying her career-best.
Stephanie Milvain (Matthews, N.C.) continued her steady scoring, posting the third best performance on the day. The sophomore notched an aggregate score of 1,173 with performances of 585 and 588 in the smallbore and air rifle, respectively.
"The other two amazing performances came from
Deonte Hayes and
Clarissa Layland," Anti added. "Deonte shot a personal best 580 in smallbore and 591 in air which tied his PR. Clarissa also shot a PR in air with a 596. These scores helped us lock-up the win against Army."
The duo of
Deonte Hayes (Fort Mills, S.C.) and
Clarissa Layland (Granbury, Texas) rounded out the top five on the leaderboard with equal scores of 1,171 points. Hayes posted a career-best tally of 580 in smallbore, while matching his top mark in air rifle (591) to record a new career-best aggregate score (1,171). Layland posted a season-best score of 596 in the air rifle to tie her career best, while notching a 575 in the smallbore.
Rounding out Navy's NCAA starters was
Joshua Potts (Ephrata, Pa.) who registered an aggregate score of 1,149. The sophomore tallied scores of 560 in smallbore and 589 in air rifle on the day.
Devin Uhrich (Camp Hill, Pa.) finished with scores of 566 (SB) and 584 (AR) to post an aggregate score of 1,150. Senior team captain
Mason MacKenzie (Henderson, Md.) finished with a combined tally of 1,136 (558 SB; 578 AR), while
Mark Dely (Fort Wayne, Ind.) ended the day with a score of 1,133 (563 SB; 570 AR).
Grace Shepard (Beecher, Ill.) registered season-bests in smallbore (558) and aggregate (1,132) in her first Army-Navy competition. Freshmen
Catherine Dely (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and
Isabelle Zantow (St. Simons Island, Ga.) closed out the scoring for the Midshipmen. Dely recorded a score of 1,127 (555 SB; 572 AR), while Zantow notched a tally of 1,118 (549 SB; 569 AR).
For Army, Kyle Kutz led the Black Knights overall with a combined score of 1,170. Kutz led Army in smallbore with 586 points, while the Black Knights' Chris Jennings led the team in air rifle (591).
Navy is set to host John Jay and North Carolina State for an NCAA Championship qualifier match. The Midshipmen's overall score in the qualifying match will account for 50 percent of their average score for the season that is used to determine if they earn a bid to the NCAA Championships hosted by the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio.
