March 15, 2008

WEST POINT, N.Y. -- The Navy rifle team posted the second-best air rifle score at the NCAA Championship Saturday and finished in seventh place as a team at the two-day event held in the Tronsrue Marksmanship Center at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. It marks the second-consecutive year in which the Midshipmen placed seventh at the national championship.

Navy's team score of 2342 points in Saturday's air rifle was second only to the 2350 points scored by Alaska-Fairbanks. It also was a much improved performance for the Mids than the 2268 points the squad accrued in Friday's smallbore event. That latter tally placed Navy in seventh place at the end of the opening day of the championship and, despite Saturday's scoring barrage, the Mids were unable to move up any positions by the end of the day.

Alaska-Fairbanks won its third-straight national championship by totaling 4662 points over the two-day meet. Tournament-host and opening-day leader Army finished in second place with 4652 points, while TCU placed third in the field of eight teams with an overall score of 4627 points.

The Mids scored 4610 points over the championship.

"We dug a hole for ourselves Friday that we couldn't dig out of, but we did a lot of digging today," said Navy head coach Bill Kelley. "Our team showed a remarkable amount of perseverance today. They made up their minds that they wanted to win the air rifle, and they came very close to doing just that."

Lisa Kunzelman (Jr., Constantia, N.Y.) led Navy in the air rifle event with 592 points, which tied her for the second-highest score recorded by an individual on the day. Teammate Josh Albright (Sr., Shelton, Conn.) finished one point in back of Kunzelman with a career-best score of 591 points, Monica Amagna (Sr., Tulsa, Okla.) was Navy's No. 3 shooter with a score of 583 points, and Chris Burleson (Fr., St. Augustine, Fla.) rounded out the Navy efforts with 576 points.

Additionally, Navy's Alison Lankes (Fr., Clarence, N.Y.) totaled 583 points while competing as an individual at the championship.

The scores posted by Kunzelman and Albright advanced the duo to the individual event finals for air rifle. Albright, the 2007 NCAA champion in smallbore, would post the second-best score of anyone in the finals -- 102.9 points -- to place second overall with 693.9 points. Kunzelman, meanwhile, scored 101.3 points in the finals to finish in fourth place with 693.3 points.

Alaska-Fairbanks' Patrick Sartz totaled 696.4 points to win the individual air rifle title, while teammate Christofer Olofsson was edged by Albright for second place by one-tenth of a point and topped Kunzelman for third place by one-half of a point with his score of 693.8 points.

For their efforts at the championship, Albright (smallbore) and Kunzelman (air rifle) both garnered First-Team All-American accolades.

Two-Day Aggregate Team Scores (smallbore / air rifle)
1. 4662, Alaska-Fairbanks (2312 / 2350)
2. 4652, Army (2318 / 2334)
3. 4627, TCU (2312 / 2315)
4. 4625, Nebraska (2308 / 2317)
5. 4623, Kentucky (2298 / 2325)
6. 4616, West Virginia (2305 / 2311)
7. 4610, Navy (2268 / 2342)
8. 4591, Nevada (2257 / 2334)

Air Rifle Team Scores
1. 2350, Alaska-Fairbanks
2. 2342, Navy
T-3. 2334, Army
T-3. 2334, Nevada
5. 2325, Kentucky
6. 2317, Nebraska
7. 2315, TCU
8. 2311, West Virginia

Navy's Air Rifle Individual Scores
1. 592, Lisa Kunzelman
2. 591, Josh Albright
3. 583, Monica Amagna
4. 576, Chris Burleson
** 583, Alison Lankes (competing as an individual)

Air Rifle Individual Finals (team / finals)
1. 696.4, Patrik Sartz, Alaska-Fairbanks (594 / 102.4)
2. 693.9, Josh Albright, Navy (591 / 102.9)
3. 693.8, Christofer Olofsson, Alaska-Fairbanks (592 / 101.8)
4. 693.3, Lisa Kunzelman, Navy (592 / 101.3)
5. 690.2, Stephen Scherer, Army (587 / 103.2)
6. 688.3, Cody Rutter, Alaska-Fairbanks (586 / 102.3)
7. 686.5, Sarah Smith, Nevada (587 / 99.5)
8. 686.4, Andrew Hickey, Nevada (586 / 100.4)