MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The No. 1-ranked West Virginia University rifle team finished in first place at the WVU Fall Classic with a team score of 4741 on Sunday afternoon, at the Bill McKenzie Rifle Range inside the WVU Shell Building in Morgantown.

"It was another consistent weekend for us, smallbore was definitely stronger than air rifle, but it was great to shoot a match over two days and gain that experience for competitions next semester," head coach Jon Hammond said. "This fall season has been good overall and we have made some improvements from last year and the team has worked really hard to be where we are at.

"We have had some really good results but we know there is still room for improvement and we are going to try and stay very focused on ourselves and how we can continue to get better into the spring. It will be exciting to host the NCAA Championships and we have lots of work to do still to be our most prepared for that event"
 
West Virginia (9-0, 3-0 GARC) finished the event 32 points ahead of No. 7 Air Force who finished the event in second with a score of 4709. No. 10 Nebraska (4700) claimed third and No. 8 Murray State (4692) took fourth. The winning effort by West Virginia marks the ninth straight top-11 team in the nation the Mountaineers have defeated to open the season.
 
Six Mountaineers packed the leaderboard, with six occupying the top 10 spots in the overall standings.
 
Freshman Griffin Lake fired a 596 in air rifle to finish second in the discipline. Combined with his smallbore mark yesterday of 592, Lake finished in first place with an 1188 aggregate total. His 1188 matched his career best.
 
Senior Molly McGhin finished second overall with an 1187. She posted an air rifle total of 593 this afternoon while her mark of 594 in smallbore was the best in the field.
 
Senior Matt Sanchez finished in third place with a score of 1184 (589 SB – 595 AR) and Junior Natalie Perrin finished just behind in fourth place after scoring 1182 (588 SB – 594 AR).
 
Junior Gavin Barnick came in sixth place on the overall leaderboard at 1180 (588 SB – 592 AR). Freshman Maximus Duncan was the final Mountaineer to crack the top 10, finishing in 10^th place. His aggregate total of 1176 set a new career high, using scores of 583 in smallbore and 593 in air rifle to accomplish the feat.
 
Fifth-year senior Malori Brown finished with the second-best air rifle mark, firing a 596, to tie with teammate Lake for the best mark for WVU. Senior Becca Lamb scored a 588 while senior Tal Engler posted a 585 in today's air rifle relay.
 
The scores of Barnick, Lake, McGhin, and Sanchez counted toward the Mountaineers' team total. Brown's scores in smallbore and Perrin's marks in air rifle also counted towards the overall team score.
 
The WVU Fall Classic marked the final event for the Mountaineers for the fall season. West Virginia will return to the line on Saturday, Jan. 20, when they compete against Army at the WVU Rifle Range in Morgantown.
 
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