TCU Edges WVU For Rifle Title
Mountaineers Secure Runner-up
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MORGANTOWN -- For Georgia native and former West Virginia University All-American Bruce Meredith, seeing the NCAA National Rifle Championships in Morgantown for the first time was a dream come true for the four-time Olympian.
"This is as exciting as when I competed," Meredith, a former Wheeling resident, said. "It would be even more exciting if we can win this thing in front of the hometown fans."
The 82-year old Meredith was a member of the Mountaineers' first team championship in 1961 and was a two-time All-American.
"It (rifle) has come a long, long way, and I'm thrilled to see it take off," Meredith said.
"Those of us from back in the day are jealous from where it is now."
The only thing missing for Meredith and the large number of alums who made the trek back to Morgantown was to witness the 20th Mountaineer championship.
WVU entered the day in a tie with Big 12 Conference rival Texas Christian University after both squads registered a final score of 2,331 in the Smallbore competition on Friday. The Horned Frogs and sophomore Elizabeth Marsh made sweep of the day one awards as the team from Fort Worth (Texas) won the team Smallbore title thanks to the first tie-breaker -- center shots -- while Marsh took home her first individual title by best seven other shooters, including WVU's Morgan Phillips (two-time defending champ in the event), David Koenders and 2016 Olympic Gold Medalist Ginny Thrasher.
It was not to happen as the Horned Frogs returned to the top of the podium with a seven-point, 4699-4692, victory over the homestanding Mountaineers.
TCU opened up its winning margin by outshooting WVU by a 2368-2361 margin in Saturday's Air Rifle competition. West Virginia's Milica Babic shot a 596 on the day to reach the field of eight for the individual crown, but it would not be enough to overcome the Horned Frogs, who received 593 points from Kristen Hemphill and Angeline Henry and a 592 from Elizabeth Marsh.
Third place went to the Air Force Academy with an aggregate score of 4687 while Murray State finished fourth with 4677. Rounding out the team scoring was Kentucky (4665), West Point (4646), Navy (4642) and Alaska-Fairbanks (4640).
Like on Friday, TCU found itself in a tie for the team Air Rifle title. But this time it was the Air Force Academy which received the tie-breaker as the Cadets finished with a 181-171 edge in centers to take first place in the event.
Setting a new NCAA record on the final day of competition was Georgia Southern's Rosemary Kramer, who shot a 599 in the preliminary round of the Air Rifle.