March 10, 2004

Air Force rifleman sophomore Christopher Hill of Griffin, Ga., is scheduled to compete in the 2004 NCAA Rifle Championships in Murray, Ky. Hill's weapon is the smallbore and only 14 individuals qualified for the individual smallbore event. The individual championships will be held on Friday, March 12 at 8:00 a.m. The team competitions will be held on Saturday.

This year's individual competition is going to be tough. However, Hill was the cut score to qualify for the individual portion, and going in 14th head coach Justin Broughton wouldn't be surprised if Hill comes out in the top five. This is Hill's first NCAA appearance as an individual qualifier. He was part of the Academy's air rifle team that qualified in 2003. Air Force entered the competition eighth and finished seventh in air rifle.

Broughton is anticipating Hill to earn All-America status and possibly becoming an individual champion in the years to come. According to Broughton, Hill has nowhere else to go but up.

The Falcons did not qualify as a team for the 2004 championships. "We really wanted the team to qualify this year, but we did not have the score high enough to qualify as a team," Broughton said. "The rest of the team wishes Chris the best performance possible but are eager for next year to get here as they do not like having to stay home." Air Force finished the regular season 4-13.

The NRA will announce the 2004 All-American selections Saturday night. All-American selection is based primarily on the shooters average for the entire year. "Chris will probably qualify this year," Broughton said.