Rifle: WVU Opens Season Ranked No. 3
October 04, 2011 04:04 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University rifle team opens the 2011-12 season ranked No. 3 in the College Rifle Coaches Association (CRCA) Preseason Poll.
Defending national champion and Great American Rifle Conference (GARC) runner-up Kentucky is ranked No. 1, while TCU, the 2010 NCAA champion, checks in at No. 2. Alaska-Fairbanks and Murray State round out the top five.
“While we don’t take too much from preseason rankings, it is always nice to be seen as one of the top programs in the country,” says coach Jon Hammond. “I feel the rankings are accurate in that we will be chasing TCU and Kentucky this year, given the teams they will return. There are a number of strong contenders this season. We will focus on getting better ever week and see what our potential limits are with this team.”
Jacksonville State opens the bottom half of the top 10 at No. 6, with Army and Ole Miss, both GARC opponents, ranked No. 7 and No. 8, respectively. Air Force is No. 9, while Ohio State is No. 10.
With the exception of JSU, WVU will face every team in the top 10 at least once this season.
The Mountaineers, the two-time defending GARC champions, return to the range following an 11-2 season which saw WVU narrowly finish behind the Wildcats at the 2011 NCAA Championships. Despite the second-place finish, WVU did win the air rifle team title and placed second in smallbore. Additionally, 2011 graduate Nicco Campriani won the air rifle individual title and became WVU’s first rifle national champion since 1997.
Seniors Justin Pentz and Michael Kulbacki, and junior Petra Zublasing, all National Rifle Association All-Americans, are the Mountaineers’ only experienced returners. Zublasing enters her first full season at WVU on the heels of a second-place air rifle showing at the 2011 national championships. She also successfully earned an Olympic quota this summer while shooting for the Italian National Team at the ISSF Fort Benning World Cup.
WVU opens its season in Lincoln, Neb., on Saturday, Oct. 15, against Air Force. The squad will then square off against host Nebraska, ranked No. 12 in the preseason poll, on Oct. 16.
Defending national champion and Great American Rifle Conference (GARC) runner-up Kentucky is ranked No. 1, while TCU, the 2010 NCAA champion, checks in at No. 2. Alaska-Fairbanks and Murray State round out the top five.
“While we don’t take too much from preseason rankings, it is always nice to be seen as one of the top programs in the country,” says coach Jon Hammond. “I feel the rankings are accurate in that we will be chasing TCU and Kentucky this year, given the teams they will return. There are a number of strong contenders this season. We will focus on getting better ever week and see what our potential limits are with this team.”
Jacksonville State opens the bottom half of the top 10 at No. 6, with Army and Ole Miss, both GARC opponents, ranked No. 7 and No. 8, respectively. Air Force is No. 9, while Ohio State is No. 10.
With the exception of JSU, WVU will face every team in the top 10 at least once this season.
The Mountaineers, the two-time defending GARC champions, return to the range following an 11-2 season which saw WVU narrowly finish behind the Wildcats at the 2011 NCAA Championships. Despite the second-place finish, WVU did win the air rifle team title and placed second in smallbore. Additionally, 2011 graduate Nicco Campriani won the air rifle individual title and became WVU’s first rifle national champion since 1997.
Seniors Justin Pentz and Michael Kulbacki, and junior Petra Zublasing, all National Rifle Association All-Americans, are the Mountaineers’ only experienced returners. Zublasing enters her first full season at WVU on the heels of a second-place air rifle showing at the 2011 national championships. She also successfully earned an Olympic quota this summer while shooting for the Italian National Team at the ISSF Fort Benning World Cup.
WVU opens its season in Lincoln, Neb., on Saturday, Oct. 15, against Air Force. The squad will then square off against host Nebraska, ranked No. 12 in the preseason poll, on Oct. 16.
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