Rifle Takes Down Navy in Star Match

Saturday, February 6

Annapolis, MD

9 AM

Army West Point

5799

5790

Navy

Rifle Takes Down Navy in Star Match

February 06, 2016 | Rifle

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Army West Point rifle team defeated Navy earlier today to claim the Star over the Midshipmen. The Black Knights won 5799-5790 in the five-man counter scoring and also edged the Midshipmen in NCAA scoring. Each team finished with 4637 in the latter format, but Army won the tiebreaker with more center shots. Army improves to 4-7 overall this year and 3-5 in the GARC while Navy is 4-4 on the year and 1-4 in conference.

Army head coach Web Wright III, whose father (Web Wright II) was the head coach at Navy in the 1970's and 1980's, was facing Navy for the first time as the head coach of the Cadets.

"This win feels good," said Wright. "This is my first victory over Navy so the plebe's and I are in the same boat. Alyssa Gestl, as a Firstie, has four stars so the team has a pretty good record going. I hope to earn more in the upcoming years."

The Black Knights topped the Midshipmen in smallbore 2872-2847 while the Mids won air rifle 2943-2927. In the NCAA scoring, Army held a 2296-2290 advantage in smallbore while Navy had the edge in air rifle (2347-2341).

Gestl had a strong performance in both smallbore and air rifle. The senior led all participants with a 583 in smallbore while shooting a 586 in air rifle.

Danielle Cuomo shot a season-best 590 in air rifle to earn runner-up honors. Nathan Brewer 584 in air rifle was just one point shy of his career-best and Sarah Nakata, while not counting towards either scoring, did perform admirably in air rifle with a 585 score.

Army is off next week before hosting USciences in an NCAA qualifier. Wright believes his team is on the cusp of being an NCAA Tournament after defeating the Mids.

"We will have another two weeks to train then go into the NCAA qualifier, followed by the conference championship. One of the things I have been trying to impart in the team is that our goals are bigger than just beating Navy. I want to get to the point where we are NCAA contenders. We're slowly but surely getting there."

For up-to-date information on Army rifle visit GoArmyWestPoint.com or follow @ArmyWP_Rifle on Twitter.