Army West Point Athletics
Rifle Team Earns Berth To NCAA Championships
February 24, 2010 | General
WEST POINT, N.Y. - A young Army rifle team that came on strong in key matches toward the end of the season earned a berth to the 2010 NCAA Championships being hosted by Texas Christian University March 12-13 at the TCU Rifle Range and the Daniel-Meyer Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas. It is the seventh straight year that the Black Knights have qualified for the NCAAs.
Army ranked among the top eight teams (smallbore and air rifle) qualifying for a berth to include last year's top two finishers in defending champion West Virginia and the University of Kentucky. Both are members of the Great America Rifle Conference along with the Black Knights.
Rounding out the rest of the field are the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Murray State, the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, host TCU along with Navy.
A total of 48 competitors were selected for the championships. The top eight teams in both the smallbore three-position and air rifle events were selected based on the average of the three highest regular-season aggregate scores with no more than one match at any given site. The average of the three highest scores was added to the aggregate scores from the designated qualifiers to determine the top eight teams.
"By the end of the season a young squad that was inconsistent early in the year came through when it counted," commented head coach Ron Wigger. "The team stepped up in the last three matches of the regular season and peaked at the right time. Prior to that, we were not standing well, but I am proud of this team because when the chips were down they showed some toughness that got us to the NCAAs."
Individual and team competitions in smallbore three-position (60 shots) will be held Friday, March 12. Individual and team competitions in air rifle (60 shots) will be held Saturday, March 13. The overall team champion will be determined by combining the smallbore and air rifle team total scores into one aggregate score for each institution.
At the 2009 championships, West Virginia turned in a strong showing in air rifle to close with a two-day total of 4643 points in edging runner-up Kentucky by five points. Jacksonville State was third (4636) followed by defending champion Alaska Fairbanks (4624), host TCU (4614), Army (4611), Navy (4606) and Nevada (4586).
Sophomore Kelly Buck finished fourth individually in smallbore at last year's championships after posting the second highest mark of 98.1 in the finals to finishing with a 678.2 composite.
Army is coming off a fifth place finish at the GARC Championships where West Virginia claimed the title with a 4653 followed by defending champion Kentucky (4645), Nebraska (46712), host Ole Miss (4609), the Black Knights (4599), Memphis 94552) and North Carolina State (4545).
The Black Knights finished runner-up at the NCAA Championships in 2007 and 2008, were third in 2006 while winning their first-ever NCAA title in 2005.
Team Qualifiers (Smallbore Three-Position and Air Rifle)
University of Alaska Fairbanks
University of Kentucky
Murray State University
University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Texas Christian University
U.S. Military Academy
U.S. Naval Academy
West Virginia University
Individual Qualifiers (Smallbore Three-Position)
Brian Carstensen, Jacksonville State University
Andrea Dardas, Jacksonville State University
Amanda Furrer, The Ohio State University
Justin Pentz, West Virginia University
Individual Qualifiers (Air Rifle)
Nicco Campriani, West Virginia University
