Feb. 24, 2009

INDIANAPOLIS - The NCAA Men’s and Women’s Rifle Committee announced today the team and individual qualifiers for the 2009 National Collegiate Men’s and Women’s Rifle Championships.

Texas Christian University will host the championships, which will be held March 13-14 in Fort Worth, Texas at the TCU Rifle Range and the Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.

A total of 48 competitors were selected for the championships. The top eight teams in both the smallbore three-position and air rifle events were selected based on the average of the three highest regular-season aggregate scores with no more than one match at any given site. The average of the three highest scores was added to the aggregate scores from the designated qualifiers to determine the top eight teams.

Team Qualifiers (Smallbore Three-Position and Air Rifle)
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Jacksonville State University
University of Kentucky
University of Nevada, Reno
Texas Christian University
U.S. Military Academy
U.S. Naval Academy
West Virginia University

Individual Qualifiers (Smallbore Three-Position)
Thomas Chandler, U.S. Air Force Academy
Layne Lewis, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Jen Pason, University of Kentucky
Kyle Smith, West Virginia University

Individual Qualifiers (Air Rifle)
Josie Burzynski, University of Texas at El Paso
Jenna Compton, University of Akron
Meredith Holman, University of Mississippi
Alix Moncado, University of Texas at El Paso
Colleen Tillson, University of Mississippi

Individual and team competitions in smallbore three-position (60 shots) will be held Friday, March 13. Individual and team competitions in air rifle (60 shots) will be held Saturday, March 14. The overall team champion will be determined by combining the smallbore and air rifle team totals into one aggregate score for each institution.

The Alaska Nanooks rifle team came back from a 6-point deficit to post a 10-point win over second-place finisher Army at the 2008 rifle championships in West Point, New York.  This was the Nanooks 10ty title victory, but the trophy wasn’t all they took home as six different Alaska shooters claimed eight All-American honors.  For more information about the 2009 rifle championships, go to www.ncaa.com.