ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy rifle team (10-9) shot a program-best score of 2383 in air rifle to post a 4721-4288 victory over John Jay (3-9) in the NCAA Qualifying Match on Saturday morning at the Bancroft Hall Rifle Range. The Midshipmen have broken at least one school record on the range in each of the last three weeks.
The NCAA Qualifier Match accounts for 50 percent of each team's score toward qualification for the national tournament. With three consecutive record-breaking weekends, including the NCAA Qualifying Match, the Midshipmen have moved themselves from 12th-place in the standings to seventh place. Navy is now expected to be one of the eight teams that qualify for the NCAA Championship hosted by West Virginia University on March 8-9, but will not know officially until the 2024 National Collegiate Rifle Selection Show that will air Monday, February 19 at 6:00 p.m. on NCAA.com.
Navy posted a smallbore performance of 2338 to start the day. The Midshipmen capped the NCAA qualifier with a school-record score of 2383 in air rifle. The score beat the previous best of 2382 by one point, originally set against West Virginia on January 22, 2022.
The Midshipmen's top two performers all season –
Isabella Baldwin and
Marleigh Duncan – once again led the way in the final regular season competition of the year. The duo both finished with aggregate scores of 1184. The 1184 tied a season-high for Baldwin, while coming in one point shy of Duncan's season-best performance a week ago against Georgia Southern and The Citadel. Baldwin finished with score of 591 and 593 in smallbore and air rifle, respectively, while Duncan shot a 586 in smallbore and a season-best 598 in air rifle. Duncan's air rifle score was one point shy of her career-high and the Navy school record in the event.
Performing in his final meet at the Bancroft Hall Rifle Range, senior
Deonte Hayes recorded a career performance. He set new career bests in smallbore, air rifle, and aggregate. Hayes bested his previous career high in smallbore by one point, recording a new best of 581. In air rifle, the senior improved by three points with a 597, posting four 100-point performances in six rounds of shooting. His final aggregate total of 1178, bested his previous high (1171) by seven points.
Fellow senior
Clarissa Layland carded an aggregate score of 1177. She started the day with a 582 in smallbore before upping her overall score with a 595 in air rifle.
Ryan Wee finished the day with an 1165 aggregate score. The freshman closed out the day with a 573 in smallbore and 592 in air rifle.
Stephanie Milvain and
Joshua Potts finished within one point of one another. Milvain registered a 579 in smallbore and a 583 in air rifle for an 1162 aggregate score, while Potts finished with a 576 in smallbore and a 585 in air rifle for his 1161 aggregate tally.
Devin Uhrich (1151),
Catherine Dely (1148),
Grace Shepard (1126),
Mark Dely (1120), and
John Dely (1117) rounded out the aggregate scoring for the Midshipmen.
Chelsie Glover participated in air rifle only, finishing with season-high 583.
Navy will return to action Feb. 24-25 as it travels to West Point, N.Y. for the annual GARC Championship. Competition from the Tronsrue Marksmanship Center is slated to begin at 8:00 a.m. each day.
