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No. 1 WVU Shoots for Seventh Straight GARC Title
February 26, 2016 10:59 AM | Rifle
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The No. 1-ranked West Virginia University rifle team will shoot for its seventh straight Great American Rifle Conference (GARC) Championship title on Feb. 27-28, at the Patricia C. Lamar National Guard Readiness Center, in Oxford, Mississippi.
This will be the Rebels’ 12th consecutive year hosting the GARC Championships. The Mountaineers (12-0, 8-0) will shoot the team smallbore relay on Saturday, followed by the team air rifle relay on Sunday. Saturday’s smallbore competition is set to begin at 8 a.m. ET, while Sunday’s air rifle competition starts at 9 a.m. ET.
“Right now, we are treating this as our next match,” coach Jon Hammond said. “It is always fun to go to Mississippi. They host a great championship. This competition is also really good preparation for the NCAA Championships, shooting over the course of two days. We are looking forward to it, but we are going to approach it just like any other match.”
WVU owns a conference-best 10 GARC championships and a conference-best nine regular-season titles. West Virginia again went undefeated in conference play for the third consecutive season.
All nine teams competing in this weekend’s championship are ranked inside the CRCA top 20 with West Virginia ranked at No. 1. WVU remained at the No. 1 spot for the duration of the 2015-16 season, with the exception of dropping two spots to No. 3 in week five.
Currently, Kentucky sits at No. 3, while Nebraska (No. 8), Memphis (No. 9) and N.C. State (No. 10) round out the top 10. Army checks in at No. 12, while Navy, Mississippi and Akron sit at No. 14, No. 15 and No. 16, respectively.
“The conference has been really good this year,” Hammond explained. “Kentucky is always a strong competitor, and I think Nebraska and N.C. State have been shooting really well this year. That’s what makes this such good preparations for NCAA’s because it is such a strong conference. There are a number of strong teams there, and it is always a challenge. That is what we enjoy about going down to Mississippi. It is a really good tournament atmosphere.”
The Mountaineers shot their three highest scores of the season at Air Force vs. Nebraska (4714) on Oct. 11, at the WVU Rifle Range vs. Akron (4740) on Jan. 17 and at Navy (4714) on Feb. 11. Currently, West Virginia boasts a 4722.66 average while shooting at different locations.
The Mountaineers also hold an overall season average of 4713.5. Their opponents own an average of 4659.8.
Senior Garrett Spurgeon continues to be the most consistent smallbore shooter for the team, averaging 586.2 this season, while freshman Ginny Thrasher paces the team in air rifle with a 594.7 average.
“We have to continue to do what we have been doing,” Hammond noted. “We have to focus on ourselves, and we have to continue to work hard and focus on the little details. Ultimately, we have to trust in what we have been doing. The team has been performing great. We really don’t have to do anything different. We just have to keep working hard and have the best performance that we can.”
West Virginia won last year’s GARC title with a 4709 aggregate score. The Mountaineers entered the second day of competition tied with Kentucky, as the team shot 2323 to place second in smallbore. WVU then dominated the air rifle competition with a 38-point win over the Wildcats, shooting a nation-best 2386 air rifle score to claim its sixth straight title.
Spurgeon also was crowned the 2015 GARC air rifle champion, shooting a 207.1 in the final relay.
Most recently, the Mountaineers shot a 4723 NCAA qualifying score at the WVU Rifle Range on Feb. 20. WVU shot a 2349 smallbore mark and 2374 in air rifle.
Of note, conference award winners will be announced at a banquet on Friday, Feb. 26, at 7 p.m.
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