Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
GARC Championships
Rifle Captures SM Title At GARC Championships
February 25, 2012 | Rifle
Feb. 25, 2012
OXFORD, Miss. - Senior Kelly Buck was crowned the champion in smallbore following the first day of the Great America Rifle Championships where Army is in first place after edging defending champion West Virginia in that discipline Saturday at the Lama National Guard Readiness Center on the campus of Ole Miss.
The Black Knights, ranked No. 4 nationally, compiled a 2318 to capture their third team title in smallbore and first since 2008.
The No. 3 Mountaineers are three points behind with a 2315 followed by regular-season champion and No. 2 ranked Kentucky. The Wildcats and Nebraska tied for third place with 2313 scores, but Kentucky won the tie breaker. Rounding out the rest of the field are host Ole Miss (2302), Memphis (2295) and North Carolina State (2273).
A two-time smallbore all-conference selection, Buck is just the third Black Knight crowned a champion in this event. She joins Paul Charbonneau (2003) and two-time medalist Chris Abalo (2005 and 2007).
Buck carded a 585 to finish runner-up in the open relay scoring, then followed with a 98.4 in the 10-shot shoot off to edge Kentucky's Henri Junghaenel for the title with her 683.4 to his 682.2 composite.
Army's Michael Matthews was also among the top eight to qualify for the individual finals after besting three others, including teammate Joseph Todaro, in the shoot off for that final spot after being tied with 579s. Matthews shot the second highest finals mark of 101.6 to finish fifth with a 680.6 score.
William Mengon fired a 575 to place 15th among the field of 50 shooters in joining Buck, Todaro and Matthews in combining for Army's team total.
"It was just a great day for our program," said Army head coach Ron Wigger. "It was very exciting and says a lot for us to beat Kentucky and West Virginia in smallbore."
The Black Knights, in the hunt for their second GARC Championships, close out the two-day tournament Sunday with air rifle with the two scores combined to determine the 2012 winner.
Players Mentioned
