MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (September 26, 2014) � The West Virginia University rifle team is ranked No. 1 in the College Rifle Coaches Association (CRCA) preseason Top 20 poll.
The Mountaineers, two-time defending NCAA Champions, ended last season at No. 1 after winning their nation-best 16th title.
�We have very high expectations of ourselves,� coach Jon Hammond said. �The rankings don�t change that. We will be focused on achieving our goals like every other year.�
Alaska-Fairbanks, the 2014 national runner up, is ranked No. 2. Kentucky, the third-place finisher at the championship last season, sits at No. 3. Nebraska is ranked No. 4, while TCU earned the No. 5 spot.
The bottom half of the poll�s Top 10 is: Ohio State, Air Force, Jacksonville State, Army and Murray State.
WVU finished last season undefeated en route to winning its 16th National Championship. The Mountaineers won their fifth straight Great American Rifle Conference (GARC) Championship and also earned the conference�s regular-season title. They shot a national championship record 4705 aggregate score, and a NCAA record 2382 air rifle score against Kentucky.
�We are coming off a National Championship and are returning the full counting team from last year,� Hammond added. �This is one of the strongest teams we have fielded. I don�t think the ranking fuels that nor takes it away regardless of where we are ranked. We are focused on ourselves, and we are looking to improve throughout the year and want to shoot the best matches we can on a consistent basis.�
Six shooters with NCAA Championship experience return this season: seniors Taylor Ciotola, Ziva Dvorsak, Meelis Kiisk, Thomas Kyanko and Maren Prediger, and junior Garrett Spurgeon. Collectively, the group has earned 20 All-America honors. Also returning for the Mountaineers are junior Patrick Sunderman and sophomore Jean-Pierre Lucas. Sunderman earned All-America Second Team in smallbore and Honorable Mention in air rifle last season.
