NCAA Rifle Paves the Road to Rio
8/19/2016 12:00:00 AM | Rifle
U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo. - There is a little known fact that the road to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games was paved by NCAA rifle competitors. To start, 2016's first gold medal went to USA's (and West Virginia University's) Ginny Thrasher for women's 10m air rifle. As the rifle events concluded, attention began to focus on a little reported fact of Olympic success - four of the five Olympic golds in rifle went to current or former NCAA athletes: WVU's Thrasher in women's air rifle, University of Kentucky's Henri Junghanel in 50m prone, and WVU's Nicco Campriani in both men's air and men's 50m three-position.
The overwhelming majority of U.S. Olympic rifle teams have had very successful athletic careers in NCAA rifle. Thrasher is a prime example, having just completed her freshman year at WVU, leading her team to an NCAA team championship and winning NCAA individual titles in both air rifle and small bore.
The line from Rio's Deodoro Olympic Shooting Center is drawn directly to the rifle ranges of NCAA institutions. Six of the seven members of the 2016 U.S. Olympic Rifle Team have ties to NCAA programs, with three whose training has been done while they were full-time students.
Included on the current USA Team was 2016 U.S. Air Force Academy graduate, David Higgins, who qualified for the Olympics while still a cadet-athlete at the school.
At this year's Olympic Trials in air rifle, 22 of the 24 competitors were current athletes or alumni of NCAA rifle programs, including Higgins, who competed in the 50m prone.
Courtesy of University of Nebraska Athletics
Players Mentioned
