Rifle Season Preview
October 08, 2014 01:15 PM | General
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2013-14 NCAA Rifle Championship Team
WVU Athletic Communications
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The No. 1 West Virginia University rifle team opens its defense to its back-to-back, nation-best 16th NCAA title this Sunday, Oct. 12, against No. 8 TCU, at the WVU Rifle Range.
The five-time defending Great American Rifle Conference (GARC) champions look for a second straight undefeated season under coach Jon Hammond.
“It should be another great season,” said Hammond. “The sport is becoming more and more competitive. We have a really good mix of experience and a couple of new faces as well. We have one of the deepest teams we’ve had in a while. We’re looking forward to the coming weeks of fall and getting the season started.”
WVU meets TCU for the first time since the 2011-12 season, when the team fell to the Horned Frogs, 4701-4669, at the TCU Rifle Range in Fort Worth, Texas. Collectively, the teams have won five out of the last six NCAA titles, TCU in 2010 and 2012, and the Mountaineers in 2011, 2013 and 2014.
Back-to-Back-to-Back
The West Virginia University rifle team looks to defend its back-to-back NCAA Championships in 2014-15.
With their title win in 2014, the Mountaineers became the first team to win consecutive NCAA titles since Alaska-Fairbanks won three straight from 2006-09. WVU last won back-to-back championships with four straight victories from 1995-98. Prior to that period, the program won six straight titles from 1988-93.
The WVU rifle team owns a program-best 16 NCAA titles. The Mountaineers are the only WVU team to win a NCAA National Championship.
No Stopping Us Now
The Mountaineers enter the 2014-15 season as the five-time defending GARC champions. WVU has won eight GARC titles since 1998, the most of any program.
WVU also scored the conference regular-season title last year, its first since 2010. The Mountaineers snapped Kentucky’s streak of three straight titles.
All-America Talent
Seven All-Americans return for the Mountaineers this season, including 2014 three-time first team honoree Garrett Spurgeon. The junior, a native of Canton, Missouri, earned National Rifle Association (NRA) All-America First Team Smallbore and Air Rifle awards, as well as a College Rifle Coaches Association (CRCA) All-America First Team honor. Spurgeon now shows five career All-America honors.
In total, five first-team All-Americans return for WVU this season: seniors Taylor Ciotola, Ziva Dvorsak, Meelis Kiisk and Maren Prediger, and Spurgeon.
Experience Will Lead this Year
The Mountaineers’ roster boasts five seniors this year: Ciotola, Dvorsak, Kiisk, Prediger and Thomas Kyanko. All but Kiisk have experience shooting in a final at an NCAA Championships, with three shooting at the 2014 NCAA Championships. Prediger finished second in air rifle, followed by Dvorsak in third. In smallbore, Kyanko placed sixth, and Dvorsak finished seventh.
In addition to the seniors, Spurgeon also adds key experience to the Mountaineers’ roster this season. The junior finished second in smallbore and fifth in air rifle at last year’s national championships.
Fresh Faces
The Mountaineers welcome two to the squad this season.
Junior Michael Bamsey joins WVU from the University of South Wales. A native of Cardiff, Wales, he is a member of the Great Britain and Wales National Teams. He recently shot at the 2014 ISSF World Championships and has shot at six ISSF World Cups since 2012.
Elizabeth Gratz is the lone freshman on this year’s squad. A native of Sigel, Illinois, she is an eight-time state rifle champion. She has competed at several ISSF World Cups and finished fourth at the 2013 Junior Olympics. Additionally, she won the Gold medal in air rifle at the 23rd meeting of the Shooting Hopes in the Czech Republic.
World Championship Experience
Four members of the WVU rifle team competed at the 51st ISSF World Championship in September, in Granada, Spain.
Held every four years and in between Olympic Games, the World Championship is the first competition in which shooters have the opportunity to earn Olympic quota places, a starting postion to send athletes to the next Olympics.
Spurgeon competed for the United States in the junior division and finished 11th in the junior men’s 50m rifle 3 positions with a score of 1161 (392 kneeling, 394 prone, 375 standing). He also finished 32nd in the junior men’s 50m rifle prone and 46th in the junior men’s 10m air rifle.
Dvorsak shot for Slovenia and finished 11th in the women’s 10m air rifle and 39th in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions.
Kiisk, representing Estonia, had high finishes of 25th in the men’s 300m rifle 3 positions and 26th in the men’s 50 rifle prone. Additionally, Bamsey shot for Great Britain.
Challenging Slate
The Mountaineers will face six of the nation’s top-eight teams in 2014-15, including two shoulder-to-shoulder matches at Alaska-Fairbanks, the 2014 NCAA Championships runner-up.
WVU opens its season on Oct. 12 against TCU at the WVU Rifle Range. The first of five home matches, the contest features two NCAA champion teams, as the Horned Frogs won the national title in 2010 and 2012 and finished sixth at last year’s championships.
WVU faces a tough stretch at the end of January and early February, as the squad will travel to Fairbanks, Alaska, for matches against the Nanooks on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 before traveling to Lexington, Kentucky, for a match at GARC rival Kentucky on Feb. 7. UK finished third at the 2014 NCAA Championships.
The 2015 GARC Championships is scheduled for Feb. 28 and March 1 at Mississippi’s Patricia C. Lamar National Guard Readiness Center.
UAF will play host to the 2015 NCAA Championships on March 13-14. The smallbore match will take place on March 13 at the E.F. Horton Rifle Range, while air rifle will follow on March 14 at the Patty Center Gymnasium. UAF previously hosted the national championships in 2007.
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