MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Three former West Virginia University shooters, including current Mountaineer coach Jon Hammond, placed in the top 20 of the men’s 50m rifle prone, today, inside the Royal Artillery Barracks, at the 2012 London Summer Olympics.

Nicco Campriani (Italy) made his second final appearances of the Games and finished eighth overall with a final total of 697.6. The Florence native was one of nine shooters to shoot 595 (100-99-99-99-98-100) in the qualification round. With five spots remaining in the final, he earned the No. 6 seed with a 51.7 mark in the shoot off. Campriani shot 102.6 in the final.

The 2011 NCAA air rifle champion, Campriani’s finish today follows his Silver-medal finish in the men’s 10m air rifle on July 30. Today’s final appearance was not a lock for Campriani, as he once considered dropping the event to concentrate on the men’s 50m rifle 3 position competition, set for Aug. 6. He is ranked No. 1 in the world in that event.

Eric Uptagrafft (USA), a 20-year member of the US National Team and the 1993 NCAA smallbore champion, entered the match ranked No. 6 in the world but just missed qualifying for the shoot off, as he finished 16th with a 594 (98-98-100-98-100-100) total. Today’s match was his only Olympic event of the 2012 Games.

Hammond (Great Britain) made his debut at the London Games today and finished 17th overall with a total of 593 (99-100-98-99-98-99). Competing in the second Olympics of his career, Hammond, a native of Aberdeen, Scotland, was tops among the Great Britain shooters.

Sergei Martynov of Belarus scored a perfect 600 in the event’s qualification, an Olympic record, and 105.5 in the final for a 705.5 total, a world record. Martynov, shooting in his fifth Games, did not miss a bull’s eye during the final and shot one perfect 10.9.

Belgium’s Lionel Cox won Silver with a total of 701.2, shooting 599 in the qualification and 102.2 in the final. Rajmond Debevec of Slovenia shot 596 in the qualification and 105.0 in the final for a 701.0 total, good enough for the Bronze medal.

Campriani and Hammond will each shoot in the men’s 3 position on Monday. The event final is scheduled for 8:40 a.m. ET.

Rising WVU senior Petra Zublasing (Italy) returns to the range tomorrow for the women’s 50m rifle 3 position. A link to the live event final, scheduled for 7:35 a.m. ET, can be found HERE.