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11/1/2001 - Rifle
Navy Rifle To Open 2001-02 Season Saturday at Norwich

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Following an eighth-place finish at the NCAA Championship last season, the 2001-02 Navy rifle team looks to improve on last season’s 15-1 record. The Mids will begin their quest towards NCAA prominence Saturday morning, when they travel to Northfield, Vt., to compete against Norwich at 8 a.m.

After a great regular season with only one loss –– a 17-point defeat to perennial power West Virginia –– Navy went on to win the Mid-Atlantic Rifle Conference (MAC) Championship in both smallbore and air rifle. All-America accolades went to George Adams, Dave Bachta (Sr./Colorado Springs, Colo.) and James Kauber (Jr./Burlington, Wash.).

Navy also set a new overall scoring record in Army-Navy competition for the third-consecutive year. Navy has not lost to Army in rifle since 1990. An improving 10th-ranked Black Knights team will make it difficult for the Mids to continue that streak.

This year's Midshipmen squad will feature six seniors –– three of whom have All-America accolades under their belts. Leading the way is team captain Luke Shank (Fort Wayne, Ind.). An NCAA All-America in both 1999 and 2000, Shank has been named to the College Rifle Coaches Association (CRCA) Academic All-America team in each of the last three seasons.

Bachta was a Second-Team All-America at the NCAA Championship in 2001. A former captain of the Olympic Training Center's Junior Rifle squad, he will look to repeat his success in 2001-02.

Joining Shank on the 2000 All-America list was classmate Bill Tolson (Oak Harbor, Wash.). Tolson is one of Navy's most consistent smallbore shooters, and his scores will be vital towards the Mids' success this winter.

Also providing senior leadership for the Midshipmen will be Joshua Zelfer (Black Hawk, S.D.), and potential All-America selections Matthew Walters (Allentown, Pa.) and Walter Warren (San Antonio, Texas).

“Our seniors have been demonstrating the leadership and athletic skills they have been developing,” said head coach Bill Kelley. “They are showing the rest of the team how it should be done –– both on and off the range. Any success we have this season will be directly related to the ability of our seniors to lead this team by their examples of both hard work and performance under pressure.”

Navy only has two other shooters with collegiate experience on this year's roster. However, Kauber and sophomore Marta Jung (So./Reno, Nev.) were both CRCA Academic All-America choices one year ago.

Kauber received NCAA Honorable Mention All-America status last winter, and should perform amongst the nation's top shooters in 2001-02.

Jung narrowly missed picking up NCAA All-America awards a year ago. However, she showed that she can compete on the world level by placing fifth overall in the women's prone event at the 2001 World Military Championships in Helsinki, Finland.

Seven freshmen round out Navy's squad –– many who are projected to make immediate contributions to the program. Matt Albright (Shelton, Conn.) was a Junior Olympian, while Mike Miller (Albuquerque, N.M.) is a Junior ROTC national record-holder. Iain MacLeod (Brunswick, Ga.) and Kevin Wilson (Freeport, N.Y.) were all-stars in their respective states, while Trey Buttler (Bellingham, Wash.), and walk-ons Jason Atwell (Wray, Colo.) and Joseph Plot (Del Rio, Texas), look to post high scored for the Mids.

On Oct. 26, Albright, Buttler, Miller, Plot and Wilson all competed in a junior varsity match against the Antietam Junior Rifle Club (Hagerstown, Md.) and the Acorns Junior Rifle Club (Fairfax, Va.). The quartet of Albright (569 points), Buttler (526), Miller (570) and Wilson (560) scored a match-winning 2,225 (out of a possible 2,400) points to defeat both Acorns (2,189) and Antietam (2,120) in smallbore competition.

More impressive, however, was the effort of Albright (383), Miller (375), Plot (383) and Wilson, in the air rifle competition. Had the quartet competed in varsity competition, the team score of 1,516 (out of a possible 1,600) points would be the 12th-best mark in the nation so far this season.