West Virginia Qualifies for NCAA Championships
February 22, 2022 03:12 PM | Rifle
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The No. 4-ranked West Virginia University rifle team will compete for its nation-best 20th NCAA title at the 2021-22 NCAA Championships, as announced Tuesday afternoon by the NCAA Rifle Committee.
This year's NCAA Championships, hosted by Air Force, are scheduled for March 11-12, and will take place at the Falcon Rifle Range in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
West Virginia has now qualified for the NCAA Championships in each of the last 14 postseasons, all of which have come under coach Jon Hammond's leadership. WVU owns a nation-best 19 national titles and has won six under Hammond, including five straight from 2013-17.
"We're obviously excited to be going to NCAA's, qualifying is always the number one objective," Hammond said. "We're grateful to Air Force for being able to step in last minute and host and shooting at least air rifle in a bigger arena will give it more of a championship feel from last year."
The Mountaineers qualified as the field's sixth-ranked team with a qualifying mark of 9441, based on the team's qualifying average of 4734 combined with its qualifying score of 4707, earned on Feb. 19, at the Bill McKenzie Rifle Range in Morgantown.
Joining WVU at this year's championships are No. 1 Alaska-Fairbanks, No. 2 Kentucky, No. 3 TCU, No. 4 Air Force, No. 5 Ole Miss, No. 7 Navy and No. 8 Murray State.
"We have to be realistic with our expectations, we shot the seventh-highest score on qualifiers and go in there sixth in the rankings," Hammond added. "I'm not sure a team lower than fourth in the ranking has won the championship in recent history. We'll do everything we can to prepare in the coming weeks, but we know there are some really good teams this year, so we have to focus on just doing our best and seeing where it stacks up."
This year's field earned championship bids based on the average of its three highest regular-season aggregate scores, with each score recorded at a different range. The average of the three scores was then added to the aggregate total from the team's designated qualifier to determine the final field.
A total of 48 competitors will compete at the championships, with eight selected as individual qualifiers. An NCAA rule established seven years ago stipulates that a school that qualifies as a team is disqualified from sending individual qualifiers.
Next up, West Virginia travels to West Point, New York, on Monday, Feb. 28, for the 2021-22 Great American Rifle Conference (GARC) Championships, hosted by Army. The event will be held at the Tronsrue Marksmanship Center in West Point. A start time for the GARC Championships will be announced later this week.
This year's NCAA Championships, hosted by Air Force, are scheduled for March 11-12, and will take place at the Falcon Rifle Range in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
West Virginia has now qualified for the NCAA Championships in each of the last 14 postseasons, all of which have come under coach Jon Hammond's leadership. WVU owns a nation-best 19 national titles and has won six under Hammond, including five straight from 2013-17.
"We're obviously excited to be going to NCAA's, qualifying is always the number one objective," Hammond said. "We're grateful to Air Force for being able to step in last minute and host and shooting at least air rifle in a bigger arena will give it more of a championship feel from last year."
The Mountaineers qualified as the field's sixth-ranked team with a qualifying mark of 9441, based on the team's qualifying average of 4734 combined with its qualifying score of 4707, earned on Feb. 19, at the Bill McKenzie Rifle Range in Morgantown.
Joining WVU at this year's championships are No. 1 Alaska-Fairbanks, No. 2 Kentucky, No. 3 TCU, No. 4 Air Force, No. 5 Ole Miss, No. 7 Navy and No. 8 Murray State.
"We have to be realistic with our expectations, we shot the seventh-highest score on qualifiers and go in there sixth in the rankings," Hammond added. "I'm not sure a team lower than fourth in the ranking has won the championship in recent history. We'll do everything we can to prepare in the coming weeks, but we know there are some really good teams this year, so we have to focus on just doing our best and seeing where it stacks up."
This year's field earned championship bids based on the average of its three highest regular-season aggregate scores, with each score recorded at a different range. The average of the three scores was then added to the aggregate total from the team's designated qualifier to determine the final field.
A total of 48 competitors will compete at the championships, with eight selected as individual qualifiers. An NCAA rule established seven years ago stipulates that a school that qualifies as a team is disqualified from sending individual qualifiers.
Next up, West Virginia travels to West Point, New York, on Monday, Feb. 28, for the 2021-22 Great American Rifle Conference (GARC) Championships, hosted by Army. The event will be held at the Tronsrue Marksmanship Center in West Point. A start time for the GARC Championships will be announced later this week.
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