UAFS air rifle team ranked sixth in nation

Lion Rifles, the college club air rifle team at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, has qualified for the inaugural NRA Intercollegiate Rifle Club national championship.

The championship matches will be held April 8-11 on the campus of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.

"The students have worked very hard to achieve this," said faculty adviser and coach Roy Hill. "That’s including all the students currently on this team and all those who have been on the team in the past. Without them, this club doesn’t exist. All their hard work has paid off, but we’re not satisfied with just making the championship. We want to have our best possible performance there — and see what happens."

UAFS scored a 2060 at the college sectional qualifier at TCU on Feb. 14. That score puts them as the number six college club team in the country going into the championship match. The field of college club air rifle teams includes Clemson, the University of Michigan, Penn State, Illinois State, Michigan State, the University of San Francisco, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and the host club Purdue University.

In addition to qualifying as a team, three UAFS shooters finished in the top 30 individual rankings, making them eligible to compete for the individual national championship.

Morgan Welch of Springdale goes into the national championship ranked number 10 in the country in club air rifle.

Tom Nguyen of Fort Smith finished the regular season as the 19th best club air rifle shooter in the country.

Alex Chanprasith of Fort Smith also finished in the top 30, at 24th.

Andy Land of Dover will also represent UA Fort Smith in the team event, but did not qualify for the individual championship.