Seven to Remember
February 11, 2011 12:04 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. - The West Virginia rifle program has been gifted with special senior classes over the years. There is the group of student-athletes that accounted for some part of six straight national titles from 1988-1993. Then there’s the class that won a title as freshmen in 1995, and graduated in 1998 with a 42-1 record and three additional titles – undoubtedly the most decorated class in Mountaineer history.
The 2011 WVU rifle senior class – seven shooters from varied walks of life – may not have as much hardware as those previous classes, yet is no-less special, for this group is responsible for restoring the glory of a proud Mountaineer program and pushing the team back to the national forefront.
“This program has a rich history, and there have been some incredible shooters throughout the years, but this senior class deserves its place alongside the best,” says fifth-year Mountaineer coach Jon Hammond. “Where they’ll eventually rank, that’s still to be written, but whenever you win a national championship and have several All-Americans, your class earns the right to be listed with the school’s greats. They will always be a part of the Mountaineer history, and they all should be proud of that.”
These seven Mountaineer seniors – Nicco Campriani, Brandi Eskew, Andy Lamson, Andraz Poje, Tommy Santelli, Kyle Smith and Ashley Zultanky – are unique, for all but Campriani and Poje were a part of Hammond’s first WVU recruiting class.
“It’s been a long four years, but it will obviously be special for me to see my first class graduate and finish their careers,” he explained. “They have been through a lot. They have had a lot of success, both individually and as a team. They have really been the core of this program for the last four seasons.”
Hammond’s first class had an immediate impact on the Mountaineers’ success in 2008, as they helped lead the team back to the NCAA Championships after a six-year drought and delivered a sixth-place finish and an 8-3 overall record.
As if they needed to prove themselves any further, the class solidified its place in history in just its second season, as the Mountaineers completed an unimaginable comeback at the 2009 NCAA Championships, moving from sixth place to first with an exceptionally strong air rifle relay, and brought the 14th national title back to Morgantown. The victory, which also included a first-place air rifle finish, was the program’s first since 1998.
“Winning that title wasn’t a surprise, but the way it happened was,” said Hammond. “We knew we could compete with anyone at the time. Our perseverance paid off grandly that season.”
With the weight of a repeat hanging around their necks, the Mountaineers welcomed Campriani and Poje into the fold in 2009, though neither began competing until January, 2010. WVU continued its dominance, rattling off 11 straight wins that season on its way to the 2010 Great American Rifle Conference (GARC) regular-season and tournament titles. The squad’s tournament championship was its first since 2000 and fourth overall. The team ended the season with a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships.
Collectively, the senior class accounts for 10 school records, including the aggregate team score (4704) and smallbore team score (2336) set just last weekend against Columbus State. Additionally, the team set the air rifle record (2374) in its win over No. 3 Alaska-Fairbanks on Jan. 22.
Individually, Campriani owns five school records: smallbore (593), air rifle (600), kneeling (199), standing (198) and aggregate score (1992). Smith also has shot the kneeling school record, while Eskew and Lamson own the smallbore (578.92) and air rile (588.38) season average school records.
The list of honors and accomplishments attached to each of the seniors is long and varied, encompassing athletic and academic achievements.
Campriani, Eskew, Lamson and Smith have all earned National Rifle Association (NRA) first team All-America honors throughout the course of their careers. Eskew is a three-time smallbore first team All-American, the first Mountaineer to earn three consecutive honors since Cory Willis did so in 2000.
Santelli is the fifth senior to have earned NRA All-America honors.
Lamson has stood out in the classroom. A business and economics major, he is a two-time ESPN the Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-American, most recently earning second team honors in 2010. Lamson also is a three-time GARC Scholar-Athlete.
Campriani proudly carried the Mountaineer flag this past summer, as the Florence, Italy, native shot with the Italian National team and won the air rifle Gold medal with a 702.5 final score at the 50th International Shooting Sport Federation Championship. He was awarded with an Olympic quota place, distinguishing him as the first qualified athlete for the London 2012 Olympic Games among all sports.
This decorated class now prepares for its final postseason run, set to begin tomorrow with an NCAA Qualifying Match against No. 9 Nebraska, at 8 a.m., at the WVU Rifle Range. While these seven seniors have already distinguished themselves as some of the best to ever shoot for West Virginia, Hammond believes that their work is not done and that they have another chance to lead the top-ranked Mountaineers back to national glory.
“You always want to build off championships, and while we had high expectations last season, we just didn’t have our best day in the range,” he said of the 2010 national tournament. “As a body of work, this class has been very successful the whole way through. I think they all are hungry for that final title and are ready to compete for it.”
The 2011 WVU rifle senior class – seven shooters from varied walks of life – may not have as much hardware as those previous classes, yet is no-less special, for this group is responsible for restoring the glory of a proud Mountaineer program and pushing the team back to the national forefront.
“This program has a rich history, and there have been some incredible shooters throughout the years, but this senior class deserves its place alongside the best,” says fifth-year Mountaineer coach Jon Hammond. “Where they’ll eventually rank, that’s still to be written, but whenever you win a national championship and have several All-Americans, your class earns the right to be listed with the school’s greats. They will always be a part of the Mountaineer history, and they all should be proud of that.”
These seven Mountaineer seniors – Nicco Campriani, Brandi Eskew, Andy Lamson, Andraz Poje, Tommy Santelli, Kyle Smith and Ashley Zultanky – are unique, for all but Campriani and Poje were a part of Hammond’s first WVU recruiting class.
“It’s been a long four years, but it will obviously be special for me to see my first class graduate and finish their careers,” he explained. “They have been through a lot. They have had a lot of success, both individually and as a team. They have really been the core of this program for the last four seasons.”
Hammond’s first class had an immediate impact on the Mountaineers’ success in 2008, as they helped lead the team back to the NCAA Championships after a six-year drought and delivered a sixth-place finish and an 8-3 overall record.
As if they needed to prove themselves any further, the class solidified its place in history in just its second season, as the Mountaineers completed an unimaginable comeback at the 2009 NCAA Championships, moving from sixth place to first with an exceptionally strong air rifle relay, and brought the 14th national title back to Morgantown. The victory, which also included a first-place air rifle finish, was the program’s first since 1998.
“Winning that title wasn’t a surprise, but the way it happened was,” said Hammond. “We knew we could compete with anyone at the time. Our perseverance paid off grandly that season.”
With the weight of a repeat hanging around their necks, the Mountaineers welcomed Campriani and Poje into the fold in 2009, though neither began competing until January, 2010. WVU continued its dominance, rattling off 11 straight wins that season on its way to the 2010 Great American Rifle Conference (GARC) regular-season and tournament titles. The squad’s tournament championship was its first since 2000 and fourth overall. The team ended the season with a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships.
Collectively, the senior class accounts for 10 school records, including the aggregate team score (4704) and smallbore team score (2336) set just last weekend against Columbus State. Additionally, the team set the air rifle record (2374) in its win over No. 3 Alaska-Fairbanks on Jan. 22.
Individually, Campriani owns five school records: smallbore (593), air rifle (600), kneeling (199), standing (198) and aggregate score (1992). Smith also has shot the kneeling school record, while Eskew and Lamson own the smallbore (578.92) and air rile (588.38) season average school records.
The list of honors and accomplishments attached to each of the seniors is long and varied, encompassing athletic and academic achievements.
Campriani, Eskew, Lamson and Smith have all earned National Rifle Association (NRA) first team All-America honors throughout the course of their careers. Eskew is a three-time smallbore first team All-American, the first Mountaineer to earn three consecutive honors since Cory Willis did so in 2000.
Santelli is the fifth senior to have earned NRA All-America honors.
Lamson has stood out in the classroom. A business and economics major, he is a two-time ESPN the Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-American, most recently earning second team honors in 2010. Lamson also is a three-time GARC Scholar-Athlete.
Campriani proudly carried the Mountaineer flag this past summer, as the Florence, Italy, native shot with the Italian National team and won the air rifle Gold medal with a 702.5 final score at the 50th International Shooting Sport Federation Championship. He was awarded with an Olympic quota place, distinguishing him as the first qualified athlete for the London 2012 Olympic Games among all sports.
This decorated class now prepares for its final postseason run, set to begin tomorrow with an NCAA Qualifying Match against No. 9 Nebraska, at 8 a.m., at the WVU Rifle Range. While these seven seniors have already distinguished themselves as some of the best to ever shoot for West Virginia, Hammond believes that their work is not done and that they have another chance to lead the top-ranked Mountaineers back to national glory.
“You always want to build off championships, and while we had high expectations last season, we just didn’t have our best day in the range,” he said of the 2010 national tournament. “As a body of work, this class has been very successful the whole way through. I think they all are hungry for that final title and are ready to compete for it.”
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