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Morgantown ready for NCAA rifle championships

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — When shooters from across the country toe the line Friday at the WVU Coliseum and squeeze the trigger to start the 2019 national rifle championship match, it will be a historic moment.

The West Virginia University rifle team over the course of three decades has set the standard for rifle teams nationally, yet their championships have all been earned outside the state, on somebody else’s range. Other than the occasional article, a brief TV feature, and a celebratory cake, most of the program’s 19 national championships were generally marked as another notch on the belt without too much fanfare.

That all changes this weekend, and the WVU team will be in a position to earn their 20th title with their fan base literally behind them.

“We’re really excited about that opportunity to host the championship,” said rifle coach Jon Hammond. “It should be really fun and a chance to showcase the sport to Mountaineer fans and people in the local area and we get to do it in a great arena at the Coliseum.”

The opportunity presented itself a couple of years ago when the university was able to procure the Bill McKenzie Rifle Range. McKenzie is well known as a member of the Mountaineer football team–in fact the one who used his foot to kick one of the most memorable field goals in history to earn a victory over Pitt in 1975. However, he is also the one who made the sizable contribution which helped the university buy the range.

The range represented a leap forward in technology. The backstop can catch and diffuse the energy of a .22 caliber small bore round along with the .177 air rifle projectile. Until a few years ago only a permanent, fixed structure could be trusted with the task. The team has used the mobile range on several occasions within the WVU Shell Building and on one occasion during the fall in the Coliseum as a trial run for this weekend’s NCAA championship.

“We were fortunate enough to get it for this year and we want to get it back in future years,” said Shane Lyons, Athletic Director at West Virginia University. “We plan to put in bids in future years as well.”

It would appear the Mountaineers fan base has responded.

“From what I’m told, we could break the attendance record for the rifle championship just from the pre-sale of tickets,” he explained.

The set-up for the match will make half the Coliseum seats available, close to 8,000 seats.

“A lot of people think you have to be quiet, but that’s not really the case,” said Lyons who attended the Great American Rifle Conference Championships in Akron, Ohio. “As you get down to the end the excitement builds and a lot of fans start to react to every shot.”

Many at this weekend’s event will be new to watching the sport, so there will be a learning curve. Projectors will display each shooter’s electronic target. Green dots will pile on top of each other and the red dot is the most recent shot. The tighter the green circles are to one another, the better the shooter is doing.

It’s hard to believe with the level of success the team generates there was a time when WVU killed the program. In fact, the team has been disbanded twice in university history. The first time was in 1979 as the old Mountaineer Field was dismantled. The old range was located in the stadium and there was no motivation to rebuild it even as rifle was about to become an NCAA sport. It took an act of the legislature to revive the program and force development of a new range. The most recent bump in the road came in the 2003 when the team was dropped again amid substantial cutbacks  to the University’s athletic department.  Rifle competed for two years as a club sport before political pressure was brought to bear again in Charleston and the university was forced to reinstate the team as an NCAA sport. Since then, it has never looked back and the sky has been the limit.

Today Lyons, who had no part in the happenings 16 years ago, acknowledged the value of the sport, but also the challenges it has to face.

“It’s been a great sport for us at West Virginia, no question, but overall, other member institutions aren’t looking to add sports,” he said. “So I think it’s growth across the board is limited and probably at its peak.”

Lyons added however, while there are fewer teams carrying rifle, there are some marquee institutions who have it. Nebraska, Ohio State, Kentucky, Ole Miss, TCU, and West Virginia are among the well known national brands who field teams successfully. But Lyons added although it may often seem like it, it’s not always about dollars. .

“We’re part of higher education,” he said. “We’re giving young individuals the opportunity to compete in sports they love. As an administrator we have to focus on opportunities, it’s not always about revenue.”

Building a brand can be an expensive proposition. While rifle may not generate a high level of cash flow for WVU, no price could be placed on the spotlight it has shined on the University and the state of West Virginia. The National Championship trophies coupled with the Olympic exposure is beyond what money can buy.

“What Ginny Thrasher was able to accomplish a few years ago with the gold medal, and not only that but the first gold medal of the Olympic games gave a lot of positive publicity to West Virginia, to our rifle program, and our athletic department,” Lyons said. “She will continue and some of our other student athletes will continue for many years to represent our school and our country in the Olympics.”





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