Devils Fall to Midshipmen at Annapolis

Brad Driscoll shot a season high smallbore score of 573 and the Devils three other smallbore scorers turned in career high performances but the University of the Sciences mixed rifle team lost to Navy 4621-4251 Saturday in Annapolis, Maryland. 

The Midshipmen outshot the Devils in smallbore 2294-2133 and in air rifle 2327-2118 to also pick up Mid-Atlantic Rifle Conference (MAC) wins for each gun.  Sciences drops to 3-3 overall, 2-2 in MAC Smallbore competition and 3-1 in MAC air rifle contests.  

Driscoll's 573 (99, 99 prone; 92, 91 stand; 95, 97 kneel) led the Devils and was the third highest smallbore score in the match behind Navy's Chris Burleson (588) and Karina Schmidt (579).   Freshman Sam Fowler shot his best smallbore match of the season with a score of 555 (100, 97 prone; 88, 92 stand; 88, 90 kneel). 

Career-highs were turned in by the Devils two others smallbore scorers as junior Timothy Wu shot 524 (95, 96 prone; 79, 81 stand; 83, 90 kneel) and sophomore Kyle Leath shot 481 (92, 95 prone; 81, 66 stand; 79, 68 kneel). 

Also shooting a career high in smallbore on the afternoon was Nathan Gilbert.  Gilbert shot 466 (90, 87 prone; 63, 71 stand; 74, 81 kneel). 

In air rifle, Driscoll led the Devils with a score of 571 (95, 95, 95, 97, 94, 95) followed by Fowler's 549 (93, 91, 92, 90, 93, 90).  Leath and Wu rounded out the Devils scorers.  Leath shot 505 (80, 77, 85, 90, 84, 89) while Wu shot 493 (83, 85, 85, 81, 83, 76). 

Maura Andrews and Gilbert also recorded career high marks in air rifle.  Andrews shot 481 (82, 86, 75, 75, 83, 80) while Gilbert shot 446 (68, 72, 67, 78, 81, 80).  Senior Allen Whisler tied his career high with a score of 501 (75, 84, 89, 83, 84, 86). 

Burleson was the top shooter in both guns, shooting identical 588 scores in smallbore and air rifle.   Ryan Williams and Alison Lankes had identical 571 smallbore scores for the Midshipmen and Stephen Frazier rounded out Navy's four scorers, shooting 564.  Williams (581), Schmidt (580) and Lankes (578) joined Burleson as Navy's four air rifle scorers. 

The Devils return home for their next match at Saturday, October 23, 2010 hosting Princeton University and their two U.S. Olympic shooters Sandra and Abigail Fong.  The match is set to start at 10:00 a.m. at the Colonel William Shea Rifle Range.