Rifle Heads to Challenging Weekend Slate

WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Army West Point rifle team has a challenging weekend with a pair of key competitions, starting with the President's Trophy Cup on Saturday, followed by a match on Sunday against No.1 West Virginia.

HOW TO FOLLOW
Live Stats | Twitter

The No. 16 Black Knights will take on service academy rivals No. 12 Air Force, No. 13 Navy and No. 23 Coast Guard in the President's Trophy Match on Saturday in Annapolis, Md.

COACH'S COMMENTS:
"It lines up pretty well this year, because the Star Match is in Annapolis," said head coach Web Wright. "We are looking at this as sort of a pre-cursor to that, to get everyone comfortable with the range. We are shooting against the other service academies, so there's sort of commensurate pressure. This match is sort of about exposure and building confidence and experience.

"We are really looking forward to it. We've been shooting pretty well in practice. I think we've been able to address some of the issues that we've had over the last couple matches. I think we are in a good place right now."

ARMY (1-3, 1-2 GARC)

Army is coming off a tough loss to GARC rival No. 7 Nebraska, dropping the match by one point (4631-4630).
Junior Payne Nunn led the squad with an aggregate score of 1169, which was good for the top individual spot for the match.
Also finishing among the top individuals for the match was freshman Clayton Hanson placing fourth with a score of 1162.
Freshman Kaitlyn Kutz continued to impress by leading the Black Knights once again in the air rifle discipline with a score of 589.

AIR FORCE (0-4)

The Falcons are coming off a 4641-4646 loss to No. 11 Nevada.
In smallbore, Air Force were edged by two points in smallbore with a score of 2296-2298.
Last year, the Falcons set a record of 5858 points at the Falcon Rifle Range.
Air Force has claimed the President's Trophy Match the past three seasons.

NAVY (2-1, 1-1 GARC)

Navy fell to No. 2 Kentucky by a final score of 4711 – 4640.
Junior Josh Watson had a career-high 586 score in smallbore on his way to a team-high aggregate of 1164. Watson notched a perfect 200/200 in prone and 195/200 in kneeling.
In a previous match in the air rifle discipline, Navy registered 2,349 points against Coast Guard, the highest score for a Midshipmen lineup since 2016.

COAST GUARD (0-1)

The Bears are coming into the match after a 4643 – 4553 loss to No. 13 Navy.
The aggregate score of 4553 exceeded the school record by 28 points
Coast Guard also broke its academy smallbore four-man team record, shooting a 2259, exceeding the old mark by ten points.

LAST YEAR AT THE PRESIDENT'S TROPHY MATCH

Air Force led the pack scoring a 4698 as it outscored the other service academies in both air rifle (2376) and smallbore (2322).
The Black Knights came in second with an aggregate score of 4646 shooting 2344 in air rifle and 2302 in smallbore.
Navy was third scoring a 4607 with 2272 in smallbore and 2335 in air rifle.
Rounding out the scoring was Coast Guard accumulating an aggregate score of 4474 with a 2272 in air rifle and a 2202 in smallbore.

On Sunday, the team will travel to West Virginia to challenge undefeated Great America Rifle Conference rival and NCAA defending champion, No.1 West Virginia.

COACH'S COMMENTS:
"We will head straight to West Virginia after the President's Trophy match, and use those few hours to rest, focus, and get ready for the match," Coach Wright stated. "Sunday morning, we will hit it at Morgantown. West Virginia is a great team. We always seem to rise to the occasion when we shoot against a better team. We tend to shoot better scores. There is something about the challenge of shooting against those competitors, that the team tends to step up their game a little bit."

WEST VIRGINIA (4-0, 3-0 GARC)

WVU is heading into the match off a win over GARC rival Ole Miss, out-scoring them 4739-4647.
This is the second time the team has shot an NCAA air rifle record this season.
The Mountaineers' finished with a score of 2392 in air rifle, two-shots better than the NCAA record of 2390.
WVU also shot a season-high smallbore score of 2347.
The Mountaineers' aggregate score was their highest total since shooting an NCAA-record 4740 mark in 2016.

UP NEXT:

Army will return to West Point to open its home slate on Nov. 10. The squad will host No. 11 Nevada and No.29 MIT in a tri-meet at Tronsure Marksmanship Center.

For more information on Army West Point rifle, visit GoArmyWestPoint.com and follow @ArmyWP_Rifle on Twitter.

Army West Point Athletics

Rifle Heads to Challenging Weekend Slate

Next Event

Related Videos