Falcons travel to Ohio for NCAA Rifle Championships
3/7/2017 12:00:00 AM | Rifle
FalconVision interview with Asst. Coach Mike Anti and Sr. Ryan Jacobs
U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo. – The No. 4 Air Force rifle team is off to Columbus, Ohio, to compete in the 2017 NCAA Men's and Women's Rifle Championships, March 10-11. It is the team's fourth appearance since 2013. Senior Ryan Jacobs will be making his third and final trip of his Academy career to the national championships.
"We did not qualify as a team my freshman year, so it is really exciting to have qualified for nationals in my senior year," said Jacobs. This year, Jacobs will end his career with top scores in both the small bore and air rifle. His two scores came at the top of the season against Nevada-Reno and UTEP on Oct. 23, with a 588/600 in small bore. He scored a 596/600 in air rifle against TCU in the NCAA qualifier match on Feb. 18. In the Nevada Reno-UTEP match, Jacobs set a school record in aggregate scoring with 1183, which was the leading score of the match.
Jacobs' four-year accomplishments include air rifle All-American, Rifle Athlete of the Week, four-time letter winner, silver medalist—2016 USA National Championships, member of the National Development Team, school record holder—small bore, air rifle and aggregate, and 2017 team captain.
As the team's only competitive senior this year, Jacobs will graduate in May along with fellow teammates Mary Simonton and Noah Kwock. "Ryan was a solid foundation on our team this year," said Assistant Coach Mike Anti.
Throughout the year, the team set and broke several school records. The first team record was set in October against TCU in Fairbanks, Alaska, with a team score of 4702. The Falcons followed that score up with a match record of 5858 points in the 2016 President's Trophy Match at USAFA against their sister academies on Nov. 5. In the match, the NCAA official score of 4698 also set a new team Falcon Rifle Range record, and Air Force retained the coveted President's Trophy for four times out of five, and consecutively since 2014. The rifle team also set school records in the event for both rifles, with a 2965 air rifle and 2893 small bore. To conclude the team's regular season, the Falcons set a school record 4704 at the qualifier match against TCU in Fort Worth, Texas.
"We had a great season this year, and all of our shooters stepped up this year," said Anti.
Prior to the selection to the NCAA Men's and Women's Rifle Championships, Air Force was ranked fourth nationally in the College Rifle Coaches Association Polls. The Falcons finished fourth in the Patriot Rifle Conference.
