Rifle: WVU Picks Up Two Wins
January 28, 2008 03:33 PM | General
January 28, 2008
Memphis Results
Tennessee Tech Results
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The West Virginia University rifle team went 2-0 this past weekend as the Mountaineers defeated Memphis, 4609-4470, on Saturday, Jan. 26, before traveling to Tennessee Tech to down the Golden Eagles, 4614-4528. The Mountaineers are now 7-3 on the season.
WVU took on Memphis at the 2008 Roger Withrow Invitational held at Murray State. A total of 16 schools and clubs competed in the annual event. Although WVU’s match score only counted against Memphis, the Mountaineers topped the entire field, which included heavyweights Ohio State, Jacksonville State, Murray State and UAB.
Freshman Kyle Smith shot his personal best and finished first in air rifle with a score of 586. Senior Natasha Dinsmore set a new smallbore personal best at 569, topping her previous best set at 567 against Alaska-Fairbanks on Jan. 18.
“It was great to beat Memphis on Saturday, but it also gave us a lot of confidence to know that we beat Jacksonville State and Murray State, who have been shooting well,” commented Head Coach Jon Hammond.
Following the win, WVU traveled to Tennessee Tech on Sunday, Jan. 27, where the Mountaineers picked up their third straight win. Freshman Brandi Eskew topped the field in smallbore after shooting a 577, while senior Lafe Kunkel totaled 585 in air rifle. WVU defeated Tennessee Tech with a score of 2292 in smallbore and 2322 in air rifle.
“This was another good win for us,” commented Hammond. “Brandi had a great day shooting smallbore. We had better air rifle scores this past weekend and if we can bring our smallbore up to where we were a month ago and keep air rifle up, then we can shoot well for the NCAA Qualifiers coming up in February. All in all, everyone was solid.”
The rifle team is off for two weeks before playing host to Virginia Military Institute on Saturday, Feb. 16 at 8 a.m.
