Army West Point Athletics
Saturday, February 20
West Point, NY
9 AM
Army West Point
4654
vs
4141
University of the Sciences
Rifle Nears Season-Best Scores in NCAA Qualifier
February 20, 2016 | Rifle
WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Army West Point rifle team shot its best when it mattered most on Saturday. The Black Knights competed against University of the Sciences in their NCAA qualifier match on Saturday at the Tronsrue Center and shot their second-best aggregate score of the season topping the Devils 4654-4141 while their 2315 smallbore score was their second-highest of the year. Army closes its regular season 5-7 while USciences is 0-9.
"We had a really good day," said Army head coach Web Wright III. "This performance will put us in contention for the NCAA championships as a team and I'm pretty sure we secured some individual invitations."
Senior Alyssa Gestl had a particularly strong day at the range. She shot a career-best 593 in air rifle and 1172 aggregate. The Palmyra, Pa., native had the top individual score of the match and earned medalist honors in air while her 579 smallbore scored tied junior Danielle Cuomo for runner-up.
"Alyssa did really well," commented Wright. "She shot a 593 but even with that good score, it was not indicative of how well she really shot. The points she lost were really close and that could have easily been several points higher and one of the top scores in the country today."
Rick Arnold, Sarah Nakata, and Payne Nunn all had personal-bests in air rifle on the day also. Nakata's 587 was good enough for runner-up while Nunn was a close third-place with a 586. Arnold's 583 put him in fifth place for the match.
The Black Knights now have to wait and see to find out if their scores today were good enough to get them into the NCAA Tournament field of eight teams.
"I'm monitoring the scores and it looks like we are close to the top eight," said Wright. "The NCAA will take today's score and formulate that into the season averages and make the invitations. We've done what we needed to do."
Army travels to Oxford, Miss., next week for the GARC Championships. The conference meet, hosted by Ole Miss, will begin run next Friday and Saturday, Feb. 26-27.
For up-to-date information on Army rifle visit GoArmyWestPoint.com or follow @ArmyWP_Rifle on Twitter.
"We had a really good day," said Army head coach Web Wright III. "This performance will put us in contention for the NCAA championships as a team and I'm pretty sure we secured some individual invitations."
Senior Alyssa Gestl had a particularly strong day at the range. She shot a career-best 593 in air rifle and 1172 aggregate. The Palmyra, Pa., native had the top individual score of the match and earned medalist honors in air while her 579 smallbore scored tied junior Danielle Cuomo for runner-up.
"Alyssa did really well," commented Wright. "She shot a 593 but even with that good score, it was not indicative of how well she really shot. The points she lost were really close and that could have easily been several points higher and one of the top scores in the country today."
Rick Arnold, Sarah Nakata, and Payne Nunn all had personal-bests in air rifle on the day also. Nakata's 587 was good enough for runner-up while Nunn was a close third-place with a 586. Arnold's 583 put him in fifth place for the match.
The Black Knights now have to wait and see to find out if their scores today were good enough to get them into the NCAA Tournament field of eight teams.
"I'm monitoring the scores and it looks like we are close to the top eight," said Wright. "The NCAA will take today's score and formulate that into the season averages and make the invitations. We've done what we needed to do."
Army travels to Oxford, Miss., next week for the GARC Championships. The conference meet, hosted by Ole Miss, will begin run next Friday and Saturday, Feb. 26-27.
For up-to-date information on Army rifle visit GoArmyWestPoint.com or follow @ArmyWP_Rifle on Twitter.
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