Rifle Tied in GARC Champs After Day 1
February 28, 2015 09:19 PM | General
 |
| Spurgeon
|
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The No. 1-ranked West Virginia University rifle team placed second in the smallbore competition with a 2323 score at the Great American Rifle Conference (GARC) Championships, today, at Mississippi’s Patricia C. Lamar Readiness Center, in Oxford, Mississippi.
After today’s match, the Mountaineers are tied with No. 5 Kentucky going into the air rifle competition tomorrow. They fell just five center shots behind the Wildcats, who earned first place in today’s match.
“Today was a mixed bag,” said coach Jon Hammond. “We had some solid performances and some who would like to make some improvements. We still ended up with four out of eight in the smallbore final. It was a great learning experience for some of them.”
All nine conference teams shot in today’s smallbore competition, and WVU (11-1, 8-0 GARC) represented half of the eight individual final slate in today’s smallbore final.
Senior Maren Prediger paced the Mountaineers in smallbore with a career-high 586 (193 kneeling, 199 prone, 194 standing), third-place score in the open relay, and finished fourth in the final.
Junior Garrett Spurgeon shot a 582 (191 kneeling, 197 prone, 194 standing) smallbore score for fourth place in the open relay and placed third overall in the final.
“It would have been great to see one of them go all the way,” said Hammond. “However, it was nice to see Garrett and Maren get third and fourth. Maren’s improvement in smallbore has been really great. She’s working hard on the right things.”
Sophomore Jean-Pierre Lucas entered the final tied for third with Spurgeon, shooting a 582 in the open relay and placing sixth overall in the final.
Senior Ziva Dvorsak headed into the final tied for seventh with Nebraska’s Lauren Phillips with a 580 open relay score. She finished seventh overall in the individual final.
Junior Patrick Sunderman shot 579 in the open relay, while freshman and GARC Rookie of the Year Elizabeth Gratz shot 576.
Senior Thomas Kyanko and junior Michael Bamsey shot 575 and 574, respectively.
Prediger, Spurgeon, Dvorsak, Kyanko and Bamsey made up today’s counting squad.
Kentucky’s Connor Davis took first place in the smallbore final.
The individual final scores will not be available until tomorrow’s completion of the Championships.
Of note, Sunderman, Lucas and Gratz shot air rifle as non-counters today. Lucas matched his career-high mark with 592, while Sunderman shot 590 and Gratz followed with 585.
“We are going to go into tomorrow like a new match,” Hammond said. “We’re going to try and have the best performance that we can. It’s always a good environment to shoot in at the GARC Championships. We are going to be positive and do our best. “
WVU will continue the hunt for their sixth straight GARC Championships title tomorrow. The air rifle open relay will start at 9 a.m. ET, and individual relays will follow.
NCAA Selection Show
Wednesday, May 13
WVU Baseball Defensive Highlights
Tuesday, May 12
Kansas Recap
Tuesday, May 12
Kansas State Recap
Tuesday, May 12
