Rifle Awaits Official NCAA Championships Selections
2/20/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Rifle
Feb. 16, Univ. of Wyoming (H)
Feb. 17, NCAA Qualifiers (H)
Vs. Wyoming: Friday started a two-day series of matches for the USAFA rifle team. The team competed against the University of Wyoming and won as the team fired its highest scores of the season. The smallbore team defeated Wyoming 4563 to 4133. In the air rifle event, the Falcons shot their highest team score of the year, 1534. Wyoming shot 1349.
This was a good warm up getting the team ready for Saturday and the NCAA Championships Qualifying match.
NCAA Qualifiers: Saturday, Air Force hosted Wyoming, The University of Texas El Paso and New Mexico Military Institute for the NCAA Qualifier and NRA Collegiate Sectional. Teams began shooting at 7am Saturday and Sunday morning, with the Qualifiers finishing Sunday at 12:30.
Unfortunately, Air Force and UTEP both fell a little short in attaining the scores needed for the NCAA Championships. UTEP fired 4568 vs. Air Force's 4552. A small 16-point spread out of 4800 possible points- very close! The air rifle event was even closer with UTEP narrowly winning with a 1522 over the 1521 shot by Air Force.
In rifle, the team has only one chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships. Had the team designated Friday instead of Saturday, the team would have qualified. Official selections will not be released until later next week. Only the top eight teams will be selected. Air Force anticipates placing 10th. There were no bad performances by any of the team members, just no great performances to exceed the scores posted by the other schools.
