Rifle Preview
September 26, 2006 10:48 AM | General
September 26, 2006
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| Jon Hammond |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Winning three of its last four matches despite finishing 4-7 last season, the West Virginia University rifle team hopes to continue its improvement with a combination of top returning talent and a new coaching philosophy.
Jon Hammond returns to West Virginia as head coach of the Mountaineers. Hammond, a native of Aberdeen, Scotland, competed for WVU during the 2002-03 season as a graduate student. Hammond brings years of expertise to a West Virginia squad that is looking to get back to the level of competition it enjoyed a decade ago.
This year the Mountaineers return six of their seven shooters from last year and Hammond plans to use this to his advantage.
“I’m excited to get in there and work with the shooters that we have,” Hammond comments. “Just settling into the day-to-day, getting them on the range every day and working with them to make them all better is my goal.”
Hammond will rely heavily on three top returning shooters.
“Three from last year that stood above the rest were Lafe Kunkel, Brian Launer and Amy Smith,” Hammond says. “They’re all juniors and seniors so they’ve been here for a couple years and they all have experience shooting on the team. They are going to be the ones to lead the team and really set the example.”
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| Lafe Kunkel |
Kunkel’s scores counted in all 11 matches last season. As a sophomore, he averaged 572.9 points with a high of 581 in air rifle competition. In smallbore, he averaged 575 points and recorded a high of 581.
Launer also scored in all 11 matches last season. The senior averaged 575.9 points and shot a high of 585 in air rifle. He registered a high of 583 points and a 577.6 average in smallbore. For his efforts, Launer was named the team’s most valuable shooter for 2006.
As a sophomore Amy Smith scored in nine of 11 air rifle matches and in 10 of 11 smallbore competitions. She averaged 576 points and hit a high score of 583 in air rifle. In smallbore, she averaged 570.7 points and recorded a high of 579.
Robin Glebes, Paul Miller, Adam Somers and Natasha Dinsmore are expected to improve their marks from last season as well.
“We’re going to try to really push those [shooters] that have been here for a year,” Hammond says of the remaining returnees.
As a junior, Glebes’ scores counted in six of 11 smallbore matches and in three of 11 air rifle matches. He was also named to the All-Academic Honor List with teammate Natasha Dinsmore.
Miller’s scores counted in five of 11 smallbore matches and in one of 11 air rifle matches. Even as a freshman, he was able to contribute to the team posting an average score of 563.1 points in smallbore competition. Somers averaged 564.8 points in air rifle even though his scores counted in only three of 11 matches.
Dinsmore had a successful sophomore season. She averaged 563.9 points with a high score of 576 in air rifle competition. In addition to her All-Academic Honor List award, Dinsmore was also named a 2006 Scholar-Athlete by the Great American Rifle Conference (GARC).
Hammond has high expectations for the freshmen joining the program.
“I’ve got a lot of hope for the three freshmen,” Hammond says. “I think they’ve got a lot of talent. I think that once they settle into college life and training here they could really challenge everyone and add some competition to the team.”
West Virginia has a challenging season ahead of them. With six GARC conference matches, including a Nov. 11 meeting with regular season and tournament champion Nebraska, the Mountaineers will have to be well-prepared and focused.
“Our conference matches are probably the big matches to start with,” Hammond says. “Army, Nebraska and Kentucky are really the three that stand out. They’re going to be the toughest matches this year. Those three have really dominated the conference these past years. They’re really the standard.”
Look for Hammond and the Mountaineers to work hard this season to take the first steps at getting the team back at the level it was at years ago.
“I think the biggest goal is to improve on last year,” Hammond says. “Just step forward, improve and really lay the foundation for the next three or four years.”
