Rifle: WVU Sets Records In Season-Opening Win
October 04, 2008 06:19 PM | General
October 4, 2008
| Ohio State 4535, West Virginia 4629 WVU Rifle Range Morgantown, W.Va. |
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Match Results |
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| Stat Comparison | ||||||||
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| Air Rifle | 2270 | 2341 | ||||||
| Small Bore | 2265 | 2288 | ||||||
| Aggregate | 4535 | 4629 | ||||||
| Top WVU Shooters | ||||||||
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Behind three school records and three personal-bests, the West Virginia University rifle team opened its 2008-09 season with a commanding 4629 – 4535 victory over Ohio State at the WVU Rifle Range.
WVU trumped OSU in both smallbore (2288-2265) and air rifle (2341-2270). The squad’s air rifle score is a school record, besting the previous mark of 2336, set last season at the GARC Championships.
The win is the Mountaineers’ (1-0 overall, 0-0 GARC) 35th-consecutive victory over the Buckeyes.
“It’s always good to get a win, so it’s nice to get the first one under our belt,” says Head Coach Jon Hammond. “I think it’s good to be off and running. The score was probably not what we were looking for today. Air rifle was not too bad, and I’m relatively pleased with that. Our smallbore scores let us down a good bit, so we’ll definitely be looking to improve on that.”
Sophomore Tommy Santelli, a 2008 Smallbore All-American, led all counting smallbore scores with 576. The Prosperity, Pa., native also led the counting air rifle scores with 586.
Freshman Justin Pentz had a solid WVU debut, matching a prone school record with 200. Santelli previously established the record against Army on Oct. 28, 2007.
Redshirt junior Bryant Wallizer, shooting in his first counting match at WVU, equaled Santelli’s air rifle score of 586 to lead all counting Mountaineer air rifle scores.
WVU’s non-counting scores were just as impressive, as the five-person team shot 2312 smallbore and 2315 air rifle. The squad’s smallbore score was six points short of the school record.
Senior Paul Miller achieved two personal-bests with the non-counting team, shooting 574 smallbore and 587 air rifle.
“Today was a great start to the season,” says Miller. “I think all of the training I did in the off season really showed today.”
Additionally, sophomore Andy Lamson, a 2008 Smallbore All-American, shot a personal-best smallbore score of 582, while classmate and fellow Smallbore All-American Kyle Smith equaled a kneeling school record of 198. The mark was first set by Lafe Kunkel on Jan. 16, 2006.
The Mountaineers continue their season-opening weekend tomorrow, Oct. 5, against Morehead State at the WVU Rifle Range at 8 a.m. The match is the first-ever between the two squads. Fans are encouraged to attend throughout the day, as the match will play into the afternoon.
