Air Bryant
October 03, 2008 01:39 PM | General
October 3, 2008
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - In any collegiate sport, transfer student-athletes usually come to a new program to experience more success than they had at their previous school.
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| Murray State transfer Bryant Wallizer is now looking to duplicate his All-American success at West Virginia.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
However, the West Virginia University rifle team certainly lucked out when two-time Air Rifle All-American Bryant Wallizer decided to cross the Kentucky-West Virginia border and head to Morgantown after a tremendous stint at Murray State.
Wallizer adds a vital dimension to a talented squad that was predominantly skilled in smallbore but lacked somewhat in air rifle in 2007-08. This season, the Little Orleans, Md., native believes that the general makeup of the squad has a chance to excel in both areas.
“We have tremendous talent in air rifle,” Wallizer said. “We have a lot of people breaking scores that they didn’t do last year.”
The Mountaineers come into the season with a No. 2 ranking in the Greater American Rifle Conference Preseason Poll and the Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association Preseason Poll. They trail only Kentucky in the GARC poll and three-time defending champion Alaska-Fairbanks in the CRCA poll.
Since 1988, WVU and Alaska-Fairbanks have dominated the rifle circuit. Each school has won an NCAA title during that span except in 2005, when Army took the crown.
When asked which teams he will keep a close eye on during this season, Wallizer doesn’t hesitate to respond with one of WVU’s biggest rivals.
“Alaska-Fairbanks for the last eight or nine years now have been the top team to beat,” Wallizer admitted. “They’ve always been a real strong team; this year they’re a strong team.
“UK is another one – they are really good. They are ranked above us in the GARC. But I think that we’re better. I really believe that although those two teams are perceived as being better than us, they’re not. We’re all on the same equal playing field and at the end of the day whoever has the best day is going to win it.”
The Mountaineers begin their quest this Saturday when they host Ohio State at 8 a.m. at the WVU Rifle Range. They follow on Sunday with a match against Morehead State, also at 8 a.m., at the range.
The opening contest will be the first collegiate match Wallizer will be competing in since his final season at Murray State in 2006-07. However, the 2008 CRCA Academic All-American feels that his time spent training for this season can help him in the end.
“Well I’m hoping I can get right back into it,” Wallizer said. “Basically last year was a real big training year. I improved tremendously in smallbore and improved in air rifle. I’ve been able to take my focus in and tighten it up a little bit so I can produce better scores more consistently. That’s what shooting is all about – highest score you can get as many times as you can.”
It has been an interesting journey for Wallizer, who had difficulty finding the right rifle program in college. His primary options coming out of high school were taken away abruptly due to budgetary cuts, forcing him to do some last-minute searching to find the right school.
“My junior and senior year (of high school) when I was ready to come out and look at colleges and find out where I wanted to go, the program would get cut,” Wallizer admitted. “One of my choices was Xavier University, and I don’t know if it was by coincidence, but that program was cut about two weeks before I was ready to sign my papers to go there. I was thinking, ‘Oh my Gosh now what am I going to do?’”
Wallizer continued to struggle to find a school that could suit his needs athletically and academically.
“I looked at West Point, but thought, I don’t know about the whole military thing, and wasn’t very sure about it. So then I looked at Murray State – it was a nice little college, only about 10,000 people. The campus was really nice, but it happened to be very flat geographically and it wasn’t what I was used to. I just really wanted to come here when I found out that they were building their program back up. I started looking at it January of my sophomore year.”
Wallizer first found out about WVU after shooting at the campus when he was only 14 years old. Noticing a recruitment form that was advertised on the scoreboard, he developed an interest despite having to shoot a minimum score of 1140 to qualify for the rifle squad.
But the diligent work he put in from when he was younger made that moment a realization. His commitment to a junior club rifle team helped lead him to the success he has enjoyed thus far since participating in collegiate competition.
“It wasn’t high school like most sports are,” Wallizer said when asked when he developed his talent. “I had to go to a junior club, and started at Antietam Junior Rifle Club in Hagerstown. I went there and practiced with the team.
“We practiced and we had a real good coach. He would take us to the matches and pay for our entry fees. His job as our coach was basically to get us into college and be on a shooting team.”
Now ready for yet another tremendous season for a brand-new program, Wallizer has his sights on another All-American honor. Down the road, he looks to compete on an even bigger stage and follow in the footsteps of his head coach, Jon Hammond.
“This year I went to the Olympic Trials. I did OK there; I didn’t do quite as well as expected,” Wallizer admitted. “I didn’t expect to be one of the top two taken. I wanted to go over there and get a little more experience.
“In 2012 in London, I want to be there.”
