MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (Feb. 25, 2023) – After shooting an opening-day smallbore score of 2345 on Saturday, the West Virginia University Rifle team sits in first place at the 2022-23 Great America Rifle Conference (GARC) Championships at the WVU Shell Building in Morgantown.
 
WVU's lead is nine points entering tomorrow's air rifle portion of the competition as Ole Miss is in second place after shooting a 2336 on day one. Just behind Ole Miss, Kentucky shot a 2335 to rank third, while Akron (2330) and Navy (2325) placed fourth and fifth, respectively, after the first day.
 
West Virginia was led by junior Tal Engler, who claimed first place in the smallbore final. She defeated Navy's Parker Haydin 17-15, in a shoot-off match that came down to the final shot. The Tzur Yigal, Israel, native shot a 590 in the preliminary round to reach the final. The mark was the best in the field during qualifying.
 
"Individually I'm really pleased for Tal, winning a conference title with three Olympians in the field is a great result," WVU coach Jon Hammond said. "She shot a really solid match today and an excellent final, and hopefully that will give her a lot of confidence going forward."
 
Additionally, senior Akihito Shimizu also made an appearance in the smallbore final where he finished in eighth place. The Tokushima, Japan, native shot a 587 to capture the berth. The mark was the seventh-best during the relays.
 
Engler posted a 199 kneeling, 199 prone and 192 standing as Shimizu scored a 195 kneeling, 198 prone and 194 standing during their qualifying round.
 
Behind Engler and Shimizu, junior Molly McGhin and senior Mary Tucker tied for the third-highest team score in the prelims with 586 scores. McGhin and Tucker finished in 13th and 14th, respectively as McGhin hit one more "X" with 33. The pair was followed by senior Malori Brown, who shot a 583, and junior Matt Sanchez, who showed a 582.
 
Fifth-year senior Verena Zaisberger was the final Mountaineer to break the 580 mark, with a 580, to take 28th place.
 
Rounding out West Virginia's scores, senior Calista Smoyer, junior Becca Lamb and sophomore Natalie Perrin all finished with similar 573 scores.  
 
"Today wasn't our best day overall and we know we have a lot more. However, it's nice to take a lead into tomorrow and we'll want to shoot the best air rifle we can. There were some positives today but also lots to work on," Hammond added.
 
Five Mountaineers counted toward the team's opening-day score: Engler, Brown, McGhin, Sanchez and Tucker.
 
West Virginia concludes action at the 2022-23 GARC Championships on Sunday, Feb. 26, at the WVU Shell Building in Morgantown. Stats and live targets for tomorrow's championship finale will be available on WVUsports.com.