Three USciences Shooters Named to MAC All Academic Team

Philadelphia, Pa.(March 28, 2011) – Three shooters from the University of the Sciences mixed and women’s rifle teams have been named to the 2010-2011 Mid Atlantic Rifle Conference (MAC) All Academic Team in an announcement earlier from the conference.

Two of the three honorees are earning MAC All Academic Team honors for the second time; senior Nicole Churchill (Pocono Mountain West HS/Albrightsville, Pa.)and sophomoreBrad Driscoll (Alvirne HS/Hudson, N.H.).  The third honoree from University of the Sciences, senior Carrie Kwok (Herricks HS/New Hyde Park, N.Y.), is a first time honoree.

The University of the Sciences in Philadelphia had the third highest number of athletes named to the 20-person team with three trailing only the University of Akron and Massachusetts Institute of Technology who had six honorees apiece.  John Jay College of Criminal Justice also had  three honorees while Navy and Indiana University of Pennsylvania had one apiece.

Shooters are nominated for the MAC All-Academic Team by their respective coaches. A mathematical formula combining a shooter's highest average in either gun along with a weighted grade score based on their fall semester grade point average or cumulative g.p.a. whichever is higher is used to determine the All-Academic Team, with the 20 highest scores earning All-Academic Team honors.

Churchill is a four-year member of the women's team and has served as captain of the women's squad during the past two seasons. In her fifth year academically, Churchill has a 3.352 g.p.a. as a pharmacy major. The senior shooter led the women's team in both guns with a 522.00 air rifle average and a 460.67 smallbore average. Nicole shot a season high of 538 in air rifle in the Devils NCAA qualifier match at Army at the end of February.  She was also recently named the MAC Air rifle Shooter of the Month for February.

Driscoll, a second-year pharmacy major, has a cumulative grade point average of 3.72 after the fall semester. He was Sciences top marksman in both guns during the season, competing in 12 smallbore matches and producing a 569.50 average in smallbore and a 574.00 average in 11 air rifle contests. He was recently named to the All-MAC First Team for smallbore and Second Team for air rifle.  Brad shot a career best 577 in smallbore at this year’s NCAA qualifier, narrowly missing a qualifying berth as an individual in the NCAA National Championships.  He matched his career high with a 581 in air rifle against Indiana University of Pennsylvania back in November.

Kwok earns All-Academic honors for the first time in 2010-11.   A three-year member of the women’s rifle team, Kwok has a 3.536 grade point average as a medical technology major.  Kwok recorded a 485.90 average in 11 air rifle matches this year as well as a 454.33 smallbore average in 12 contests.   Carrie shot a career high 511 in the NRA Sectional match at the University of the Sciences in February and had a season high smallbore score of 487 against Princeton last October. 

The MAC is the largest rifle conference in the nation and currently consists of 15 members in eight states from Virginia to Massachusetts and west to Ohio. The MAC strives, through the practice of riflery, to promote the highest ethical standards of athletic competition and individual conduct, foster the development of mutual understanding and cooperation among its member institutions, and work to develop complete mutual understanding of the sport among all member institutions