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National Champions Earn 20 All-America Honors
March 16, 2016 02:16 PM | Rifle
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – On the heels of its fourth straight and nation-best 18th national championship, the No. 1-ranked West Virginia University rifle team earned 20 All-America honors at the NCAA Postseason Banquet, held March 12, in Akron, Ohio.
Seven Mountaineers earned a combined 13 National Rifle Association (NRA) All-America awards, while seven Mountaineers were named to the College Rifle Coaches’ Association (CRCA) All-American Teams.
“The awards are really nice for the program, especially for the athletes individually,” 10-year coach Jon Hammond said. “It is great recognition of the hard work that they have put into it throughout the year, and it shows the commitment that they have day-in and day-out. An All-America award is an important and prestigious award, and it was great to see so many of the team members receive those awards over the past weekend.”
Senior Garrett Spurgeon led the way for the Mountaineers, as he was named to the NRA Air Rifle and Smallbore First Teams, as well as the CRCA All-America First Team. Spurgeon concludes his Mountaineer career with 11 All-America honors, including 10 first-team awards.
Senior Patrick Sunderman, sophomore Elizabeth Gratz and freshman Ginny Thrasher joined Spurgeon on the NRA Air Rifle First Team. The recognition was the second straight first-team award for Gratz and the first career honor for Thrasher. Sunderman also received first-team recognition for the first time in his career. The duo of Sunderman and Thrasher also were named to the NRA Smallbore Second Team, while Gratz earned NRA Smallbore Honorable Mention.
Senior Meelis Kiisk earned NRA Air Rifle Second Team recognition for the third time in his career, while junior Jean-Pierre Lucas landed on the NRA Air Rifle Honorable Mention list for the second straight year. Kiisk and Lucas also were named to the NRA Smallbore First Team.
Senior Michael Bamsey earned NRA Smallbore First Team recognition. He also landed on the CRCA All-America Second Team list for the second straight year.
Thrasher and Kiisk also were named to the CRCA All-America First Team, while Sunderman, Lucas and Gratz landed on the CRCA All-America Second, Third and Honorable Mention lists, respectively.
Of note, all eight Mountaineers landed on the CRCA Scholastic All-America list: freshman Will Anti, Kiisk, Spurgeon, Bamsey, Sunderman, Gratz, Lucas and Thrasher.
“Balancing academics and athletics is a challenge as well,” Hammond noted. “That is something that we try to help them with. The academic center and the support staff have a huge role in that. I think they are a great resource for the team members. Our team members have committed to using those resources. They try to do the best that they can in the classroom, as well as inside the range. I think they have done a great job of that this year as well.”
The Mountaineers secured their national title with an aggregate score of 4703, on March 12, at the University of Akron’s Louis & Freda Stile Athletics Field House. West Virginia shot a winning 2338 smallbore mark, followed by a winning 2365 air rifle score to clinch their latest National Championship.
In addition to the team victories, Thrasher made it a clean sweep in the individual competition. The Springfield, Virginia, native captured the NCAA smallbore (586, 461.5) and air rifle (593, 208.8) titles and became the second Mountaineer ever to claim both individual NCAA titles at one championship.
Of note, the Mountaineers ended their 2015-16 campaign at No. 1 in the final CRCA Poll.
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