MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – After taking down No. 3 Kentucky over the weekend to claim the program's 16^th Great America Rifle Conference Regular Season title, the West Virginia University rifle team has been named the WVU Student-Athletes of the Week, presented by University Apartments.
 
The Mountaineers defeated the Wildcats on the road, 4749-4716, to finish the conference slate a perfect 5-0 to claim the program's second straight title. The win also marks the 26^th straight regular season win for WVU dating back to the end of the 2022-23 season.
 
During the match, Lauri Syrja became the 10^th WVU athlete in program history to score a perfect 600 in air rifle. He is the second Mountaineer this season to reach the mark, joining Natalie Perrin who finished perfect in the discipline against Army on Nov. 9, 2024.
 
West Virginia bested the Wildcats by 33 points. The Mountaineers hit marks of 2358 in smallbore and 2391 in air rifle to claim both disciplines. Kentucky managed scores of 2339 in smallbore and 2377 in air rifle.
 
Barnick finished first on the overall leaderboard with an 1191 and added a first-place finish in smallbore with a 593. 
 
This Week in Women's Basketball: The Mountaineers open the week on the road against Baylor in Waco, Texas on Tuesday, Feb. 11 … tipoff is set for 8 p.m. ET inside Foster Pavilion … WVU returns home on Saturday, Feb. 15, when they host Cincinnati inside the WVU Coliseum … the contest is senior day four six Mountaineers … tipoff is slated for 2 p.m. ET.
 
Last Week in Women's Basketball: The Mountaineers moved to 19-4 on the season and 9-3 in Big 12 Conference play after collecting the team's 13^th win on their home floor this season and a road win … The Mountaineers defeated Kansas, 76-43, inside the WVU Coliseum on Wednesday … junior guard Sydney Shaw led all scorers with a career-high 22 points … West Virginia then went on the road to defeat Houston 79-51 … The win marks the fourth straight in conference play for WVU … senior guard JJ Quinerly finished with a game-high 20 points.
 
Notes: WVU returns eight student-athletes to the floor this season, including four of five starters from an NCAA Tournament team a season ago … All-Big 12 First Team and Defensive Team selection JJ Quinerly highlights the returners … She was also named to the Preseason All-Big 12 team and was named to the Naismith College Women's Basketball Player of the Year, the 2025 Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard of the Year Watchlist and the Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 Watchlist … Jordan Harrison was named to the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year watchlist … Quinerly has eclipsed 1,500 points in her career this season as Harrison and Zya Nugent have broken the 1,000-point mark... the Mountaineers finished the nonconference schedule a 10-1 … JJ Quinerly is third on the program's all-time steals list and 9th in the Big 12 Conference all time standings … she also ranks sixth in the programs history for all time points scored … WVU is a perfect 13-0 when playing games inside the WVU Coliseum … WVU is in search of its 20th 20+ win season in program history.
 
This Week in Wrestling: West Virginia does not compete again until it hosts Arizona State on Sunday, Feb. 23, at the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown ... the match will serve as senior day, alumni day and Greg Jones day. 
 
Last Week in Wrestling: The Mountaineers went 1-1, defeating Utah Valley and losing to Wyoming ... WVU beat UVU, 26-12, and lost to Wyoming, 19-18. 
 
Notes: Senior No. 10 Jett Strickenberger (125) extended his win streak to seven consecutive matches as he defeated Utah Valley's Bridger Ricks by major decision, 11-2, and Wyoming's Garrett Ricks by major decision, 11-3 ... fifth-year No. 3 Peyton Hall (165) lost his first match of the season ... Hall lost to UVU's No. 4 Terrell Barraclough, 5-2 ... redshirt sophomore No. 26 Brody Conley (174) picked up two wins during the week, defeating Utah Valley's Mark Takara and Wyoming's Riley Daivs. 
 
This Week in Gymnastics: West Virginia heads back out on the road when it makes the trek to Provo, Utah, for a Big 12 Conference dual meet at BYU on Friday, Feb. 14 ... competition inside the Marriott Center is tabbed for 9 p.m. ET.
 
Last Week in Gymnastics: WVU dropped a dual meet against Big 12 Conference foe Iowa State, 195.375-194.175, in Morgantown on Feb. 9 ... the Mountaineers tallied scores of 48.9 on vault, 47.925 on the uneven bars, 48.425 on balance beam and 48.925 on floor exercise ... in the final event standings, freshman Karleigh DiCello finished in first place on vault with a career-best 9.85, followed by classmate Sophia Rice in third with a 9.8 ... sophomore Julia Brown tied for third place on beam (9.775), while senior Anna Leigh placed second (9.85) and freshman Emerson Smith (9.825) tied for third on floor.
 
Notes: The Mountaineers' total on vault marked a season high, as WVU topped its previous season best by three-tenths ... DiCello's score on vault marked her first score of 9.8 or higher on vault and matched WVU's highest score on the event this season ... it was her second career win on vault ... Brown and freshman Kaelyn Skeel made their career debuts on bars against Iowa State, as the appearance marked Skeel's first as a Mountaineer ... in this week's Road to Nationals rankings, West Virginia is ranked No. 37 nationally on floor exercise and No. 52 overall ... elsewhere, WVU ranks No. 56 on vault, No. 43 on bars and No. 61 on beam ... individually, Brown ranks No. 16 in the Big 12 Conference on beam, while fifth-year senior Trinity Macy ranks No. 25 in the league on bars.
 
This Week in Swimming and Diving: West Virginia does not compete again until the 2025 Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championships ... this year's conference title meet takes place at Weyerhaeuser Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Washington, from Feb. 25-March 1.
 
Last Week in Swimming and Diving: The Mountaineers were off. 
 
This Week in Rifle: The Mountaineers do not compete.
 
Last Week in Rifle: West Virginia defeated No. 3 Kentucky 4749-4716 on Saturday to claim the programs 16th Great America Rifle Conference Regular-Season title … the result marks the second straight conference championship the Mountaineers have won … sophomore Lauri Syrja scored a perfect 600 in air rifle during the match … he is just the 10th Mountaineers to hit the mark in a match in program history … Gavin Barnick took first in aggregate score with a 1191 and in smallbore with a 593 as his 598 in air rifle was second … Syrja's perfect 600 gave him first in air rifle.
 
Notes: The Mountaineers have won 26 straight regular season matches … Jon Hammond collected his 200^th career win against No. 5 Georgia Southern … West Virginia's 4743.1 aggregate score is the second best in the nation … the 2356.4 mark in smallbore is the best in the nation while the 2386.6 in air rifle sits second … senior Gavin Barnick leads WVU in aggregate (1187.2), smallbore (590.5), and air rifle (596.7) … he ranks fourth, sixth and fifth in the nation in each category.
 
This Week in Tennis: West Virginia hosts a doubleheader against Toledo and Temple on Saturday, Feb. 15, at Summit Tennis Academy in Morgantown ... WVU will face Toledo at 10 a.m. ET and Temple at 3 p.m. 
 
Last Week in Tennis: The Mountaineers beat Cleveland State and Mount St. Mary's to end a four-match losing streak. 
 
Notes: Freshman Laura Villanueva Morillo finished undefeated in singles play for the weekend, defeating CSU's Ella Franz, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 and Kaajal Ramisetty from Mount St. Mary's, 6-0, 6-2 ... Morgantown native, freshman, Lyla Byers beat Cleveland State's Filippa Frogner, 6-2, 6-2 ... senior Tatiana Lipatova appeared for the first time this season as she paired with graduate student Julie Bousseau in doubles ... the pairing went 2-0. 
 
This week in Track and Field: West Virginia sends split squads to Boston, Massachusetts and Youngstown, Ohio on Feb. 14-15 ... the Mountaineers will compete at the YSU Collegiate Invitational on Friday, inside of the Watson and Tressel Training Site in Youngstown ... WVU will then send split squads to Boston for the Eagle Invite on Friday and the David Hemery Valentine Invitational on Saturday.
 
Last week in Track and Field: The Mountaineers returned to University Park, Pennsylvania for the third time this season on Feb. 8 for the Sykes & Sabock Challenge ... Saturday's meet was highlighted by redshirt sophomore Annishka McDonald who claimed first in the women's high jump ... McDonald tied her career best mark of 1.74 meters in the event, tying for the fifth spot in the high jump in program history.
 
This week in Golf: The Mountaineers will travel to Gainesville, Florida, on Saturday and Sunday to compete in the Gators Invitational.
 
Last Week in Golf: The golf team took third place out of 14 teams in its first spring tournament of the season at the Battle at Briar's Creek in Johns Island, South Carolina … the Mountaineers shot 281-282-290 for their 11-under-par score. NC State won the tournament at -19 followed by host College of Charleston at -13 … WVU finished one spot ahead of Clemson, Elon and Wake Forest who all finished in a tie for fourth place at -10 … senior Max Green paced the Mountaineers with a sixth-place finish after posting rounds of 70-71-70 to finish -5 … Kaleb Wilson shot -1 (71-70-74) to finish in 20^th place, while Todd Duncan (71-70-76) and Carson Kammann (74-71-72) tied for 31^st place at +1 … Pierce Grieve shot +5 (69-78-74) to finish in 42^nd place … freshman Ryan Leach shot 10-under-par to win The Stono at The Links at Stono Ferry in Hollywood, South Carolina on Tuesday … in the individual tournament, Leach shot 68-65-73=206 for his 10-under score. Leach edged Daniel Boone of Charlotte by one stroke … Leach, a native of Williamsburg, Virginia, becomes the seventh different WVU golfer and third this year to win a collegiate tournament …  It marks the 10th time a WVU golfer has won a collegiate tournament … Hugh Donegan also competed in this event and tied for 19^th place with rounds of 74-78-68=220 (+4).