Lion Rifles rank 10th in the U.S.

story submitted by the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith

Lion Rifles, the air rifle club team at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, competed in its second consecutive Intercollegiate Rifle Club Championships at Charleston, S.C., and finished with 2008 points, making them the 10th ranked air rifle club team in the country.

“We faced some adversity as a team,” said coach and faculty adviser Roy Hill of Rudy, “but the guys still performed the best they could under the circumstances. They showed determination.”

Two UAFS shooters finished in the Top 25 individual rankings. James Vo of Fort Smith led Lion Rifles with a 542, good enough to earn him a spot as the 21st ranked individual air rifle shooter in the country. Just behind Vo was Alex Chanprasith, also of Fort Smith, with a 538 and the 23rd ranked individual shooter.

“Andy Land of Dover turned in a strong 533, but was not eligible for the individual championship,” said Hill. “Tom Nguyen of Fort Smith battled equipment problems during the match and shot a 395. Tom knew before he fired his first for-record shot that his score was going to be very low compared to where he’s usually at. For him to hang in there and finish the match in that situation took a lot of guts and courage.”

Host team Clemson won the air rifle championship with a 2218, its second consecutive air rifle national championship. Penn State followed in second with a 2184 and West Virginia, making its first appearance in the club championship, took third with a team score of 2174.

After the match, all competitors competed in a fun shoot against former Washington Redskins defensive tackle Dave Butz.

“The fun shoot is becoming a very enjoyable tradition at the championship,” said Hill. “It’s a way for the competitors to get to know each other and blow off some post-match adrenaline.”

In the fun shoot, competitors ran a race around the range building and popped balloons with their hands or feet before using sporter air rifles to shoot four more balloons and shoot four steel ducks that looked like old-fashioned shooting gallery targets. The five finalists then shoot bingo cards at 10 yards to produce the highest score they could. In the fun shoot, James Vo finished second and Andy Land finished third overall, both winning I-tunes cards and bringing home their bingo cards autographed by Dave Butz.

Hill said the experience was great for the team and that his squad really enjoyed getting to shoot at The Citadel’s state-of-the art range facility and meeting students from other universities from New Mexico to Pennsylvania to Georgia. He also pointed to the support the team gets from the entire UAFS community and two businesses in the River Valley.

“We’d like to thank Umarex USA for their donations,” said Hill. “They keep us in match grade pellets, and they donated $800 to us that basically paid for our hotel rooms at the match. We couldn’t have made the trip without their very generous and kind support. We want to recognize their support and help and thank them. We’d also like to thank Ocean’s Impact in Barling for the use of a SCUBA tank and free air fills so we can keep our air guns running.”

Hill looks forward to next year, pointing out that two experienced competitors, Vo and Nguyen, plan to return in fall 2011 and how he hopes to keep recruiting students to the squad.

“We’re always looking for new team members," said Hill. “We’re open for any UA Fort Smith student who wants to come give air rifle a try.”