Rifle Seeks Eighth President’s Trophy

WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Army West Point rifle team hosts the 15th President's Trophy Match this Saturday beginning at 9 a.m. in the Tronsrue Marksmanship Center. The No. 15 ranked Black Knights are looking to recapture the trophy from No. 6 Air Force. No. 13 Navy and Coast Guard round out the four-team service academy field.

Army has won seven of the last 10 President's Trophies and has never finished below second in the previous 14 events. The Black Knights also won the last time they hosted in 2013. The Falcons enter with their sights on their third title in the last four years.

"We've had some pretty good performances, we've had some disappointments," said Army coach Web Wright of the season thus far. "I'm hoping this is the weekend we put it all together and show people the potential this team has."

This is Army's first home match of the year and the first home event under Wright's leadership. Wright state that this is "going to set the tone for the rest of the home matches (this season)."

Army (1-3) has lost its last three meets, but enters its first home match of the year ranked 15th in the latest Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association (CRCA) poll. Most recently, the Cadets fell to No. 9 Nebraska by a score of 4663-4616. That event was hosted by The Citadel at the Inoyue Marksmanship Center. The Black Knights had their second-best outing in air rifle (2336).

Junior Danielle Cuomo has shot well in air rifle each of the past two weeks. She has registered scores of 587 in the match with the Cornhuskers and with Ohio State the week before, the second-highest individual air rifle scores of the season for Army and just two shy of her career-high (589).

Senior Alyssa Gestl finished third last week in smallbore with a 575 which was three points behind the runner-up. She posted the teams' high score this season with a 588 in air rifle versus Memphis.

Sophomore Josh Martin owns the Black Knights top score in smallbore this year when he shot a 586 at Ohio State two weeks ago, taking first place in the event. The native of Hershey, Pa., had an 1169 aggregate that day, the highest for Army against the Buckeyes.

Air Force

Air Force enters the meet ranked sixth in the nation despite a three-match losing streak heading into Saturday.
The Falcons are 1-4 this season with their four losses coming from the top three ranked teams in the nation (West Virginia, Alaska, and TCU) and No. 7 Ohio State.
Their lowest performance this season was 4674 (loss to Ohio State), a mark that is 32 points better than any other teams competing on Saturday (Army has the second-highest scores of 4642 against Ole Miss and Memphis).
David Higgins has posted the four best smallbore scores for Air Force this season. The senior's best score came in the opening dual meet against West Virginia and Nebraska where he shot a 588, tied for the eighth-best mark in the country this season.
The Falcons' trio of Spencer Cap, Tyler Rico, and Anna Weilbacher all shot a 593 in air rifle last weekend in a close loss to No. 3 TCU.

Navy

Navy (2-1) is ranked 13th in the latest CRCA rankings.
The Midshipmen were idle since a 4654-4620 loss to No. 12 North Carolina State on October 17.
Navy's aggregate season-high in scoring came against the University of Sciences when they won 4627-4065.
Dan Jones has registered the top individual scores for the Midshipmen across the board this year. The junior's 589 air rifle score is tied with Jodi Cull-Host for the season-high, while his 586 smallbore and 1169 aggregate are also the best marks for Navy this year.
Cull-Host has averaged the highest air rifle score for Navy this year with a 586.7 average over three starts.

Coast Guard

Coast Guard boasts the only undefeated record among the four teams. The Bears are 6-0 on the young season.
In its last match, Coast Guard topped the likes of John Jay and Yale with a season-best 4511.
Alexandria Harrington is coming off a record-setting performance. The freshman set a program-best 192 out of 200 in the kneeling stage of smallbore. Harrington's efforts led to a school record marks in air rifle (2290) and aggregate score (4511). She was named the CGASPORTS.COM Athlete of the Week.
Nicholas Paisker paced the Bears in their only other event this year. The junior set a season-high 572 smallbore in the opener.

For up-to-date information on Army rifle visit GoArmyWestPoint.com or follow @ArmyWP_Rifle on Twitter.

Rifle Seeks Eighth President’s Trophy

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Danielle Cuomo

Alyssa Gestl

Josh Martin

Army West Point Athletics

Rifle Seeks Eighth President’s Trophy

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Danielle Cuomo

Alyssa Gestl

Josh Martin

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